Biography.guide
Home › People › Judoka › An Chang-rim
Portrait of An Chang-rim

An Chang-rim

b. 1994

South Korean judoka

Don't just read it — keep itBiographies to ownE-book · Audio · Video From $7 →

About An Chang-rim

Born 1994. An Chang-rim is a South Korean judoka.

An Chang-rim (; born 2 March 1994) is a South Korean retired judoka. He was also seeded first at the Olympics. He is currently ranked fourth in the world. In December 2021 he officially announced retirement.

Early life An was born to third generation Zainichi Korean parents. He wanted to compete for South Korea from a young age, saying "I was never discriminated against here [in South Korea]."

An began judo in first grade. He attended Kyoto City Hachijo Junior High School, where he began to compete. He was unable to compete internationally for Japan because he refused naturalization. He was the 2013 All Japan University lightweight champion. He currently attends and trains at Yong In University.

Career 2014 World Judo Championships

An began his competitive senior career in 2014, representing Korea at the 2014 World Judo Championships. He competed in the −73 kg category, after local lightweight number one Wang Ki-chun missed the tournament. He lost in the second round to Israeli champion Sagi Muki. An Chang-rim (second from the right) after winning the 2013 All Japan University Championships. He was teammates with Takanori Nagase (left).

2014 World Junior Judo Championships

An had a breakthrough in his junior career, winning the 2014 World Junior Championships in Fort Lauderdale. He won against Japan's Yuji Yamamoto in the final, scoring two waza-aris for ippon.

2014 Grand Prix Jeju An won his first IJF circuit title at the 2014 Grand Prix in Jeju, beating established opponents such as 2008 European Champion Dirk Van Tichelt in the semi-finals, and future European Champion Sagi Muki in the finals, both by ippon.

2014 Grand Slam Tokyo An competed in his first Grand Slam in 2014, at the heart of judo in Tokyo. He lost to double world champion Shohei Ono in the quarter-finals, and Ono would prove to be a stumbling block later on in his career. He won his first Grand Slam medal against Rustam Orujov in the bronze medal contest, winning narrowly by yuko.

2015 Grand Prix Dusseldorf An again had a fairly successful outing at the Grand Prix in Düsseldorf, where he was guaranteed a medal by beating Muki by ippon in the quarter-finals. However, he was again faced against his budding rival Ono, and lost in the semi-finals. He won a bronze medal by defeating Victor Scvortov.

2015 European Open Warsaw An continued his medal-winning streak at the European Open in Warsaw, reaching the final after winning all his fights en-route by ippon. He faced his first opponent from Asia in the tournament with Mongolia's Odbayar Ganbataar, where Ganbataar threw him for ippon, therefore beating An to settle for silver.

2015 Asian Judo Championships An won his first continental title at the Asian Judo Championships in Kuwait City. He defeated Sharofiddin Boltaboev in just 49 seconds by ippon.

2015 Universiade An defeated all his opponents by ippon at home ground in Gwangju. He defeated Yamamoto again in the semi-final, and took gold against Ukraine's Dmytro Kanivets.

2015 World Judo Championships

An competed in his second world championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, and reached the semi-final. He was once again pitted against the eventual tournament winner Ono, and lost for the third time. Ono scored first with an uchi mata counter for waza-ari, and An leveled the scores by scoring waza-ari with a minute and a half to go. Ono sealed his win with an ushiro goshi, ending An's hopes of becoming Korea's third lightweight world champion, after Lee Won-hee and Wang.

He then went on to win by shido against Ganbataar in the bronze-medal contest, becoming one of South Korea's five individual medalists at the championships.

In the team competition, Korea faced Mongolia in the semi-finals. An faced Ganbataar and beat him for a second time in Astana with a seoi nage to win by ippon in just ten seconds. Korea won 4–1, and was set against Japan in the finals.

An's opponent in the team final was double world champion and the 2015 silver medalist Riki Nakaya. Japan was one up after former world champion Masashi Ebinuma beat current world champion An Baul, putting pressure on An. An beat Nakaya by ippon with his signature skill seoi nage. Korea eventually lost to Japan 3–2, and had to settle for silver.

2015 Grand Slam Abu Dhabi An won his first Grand Slam at Abu Dhabi, winning all his fights by ippon with the exception of the quarter-final against half-lightweight Olympic champion Lasha Shavdatuashvili. He beat Germany's Igor Wandtke for the gold medal.

2015 Grand Prix Jeju An had a re-match with van Tichelt again in the final for the second year running at the Grand Slam in Jeju. He defeated the Belgian once again by ippon.

2015 Grand Slam Tokyo

An faced his senior from the University of Tsukuba, world champion Hiroyuki Akimoto, in the final. After the match he said to The Japan News, "Two years ago at this event I was Hiroyuki-san's attendant. I intended to send him into retirement."

2016 Grand Prix Dusseldorf An again faced his rival Ono in the semi-final at the Grand Prix in Düsseldorf, and lost for the fourth time. He ended up winning bronze against Mongolia's Khadbataar Narankhuu.

2018 Baku World Championship An, for the first time, won the World Championship title. In the final he ended up going against his rival, Soichi Hashimoto from Japan. An beat Hashimoto with a Kosoto-gake which lead him to his first World Championship title.

2021

In 2021, he won the gold medal in his event at the 2021 Judo World Masters held in Doha, Qatar.

Competitive record (as of 30 November 2019)

Biography shop

Don’t just read it —
keep it.

Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.

  • E-book
  • Audio
  • Video
Browse the shop — from $7

Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free

Important facts

Birth century
Occupation
Nationality
Education
Yong In University

People in An Chang-rim's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped An Chang-rim's

Frequently asked questions

Who is An Chang-rim?

South Korean judoka (1994-)

When was An Chang-rim born?

An Chang-rim was born on 2 March 1994 in Kyoto.

What is An Chang-rim's occupation?

An Chang-rim is a judoka.

What nationality is An Chang-rim?

An Chang-rim is South Korean.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: An Chang-rim

· Wikidata: Q18383078

· DBpedia: An Chang-rim

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). An Chang-rim. https://biography.guide/an-chang-rim/

MLA: "An Chang-rim." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/an-chang-rim/.

Chicago: "An Chang-rim." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/an-chang-rim/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

Page generated 2026-09-27 05:31 UTC