Gold Medalist Jimmy Kim inspires next generation of Olympic athletes

A blistering downtown Los Angeles summer morning at California Endowment headquarters unified 250 young athletes from across the Southland. In addition to the hundreds of young Angelenos, Olympians were on hand to celebrate the Youth Ideas Exchange.

Jimmy Kim, a gold medalist in the heavyweight division at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, directed a taekwondo clinic during the activities session at the Ideas Exchange. Assisted by three athletes from his taekwondo center in Orange County, JKTC, Kim taught angelenos values of sport throughout the day.

This past spring, Kim was named to the LA2024 Athletes’ Advisory Commission. With the recent announcement of Los Angeles landing the 2028 Olympics, he will play an integral role in the committee’s continuing efforts to spread values of the Olympic Movement and inspire the next generation of great Olympic athletes.

This story was produced through the HS Insider summer internship program which is supported by funding from LA84 Foundation.