5 Korean stars who could have been Olympians? Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo were both skaters, plus 3 more famous former athletes

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics might be lacking live spectators this year due to the prolonged pandemic, but sports fans across the globe are still enjoying the Games and supporting their favourite athletes – even though they might not be able to cheer on the winners in person.

But did you know that five Korean would-be Olympians embarked on very different career paths instead? As we get amped up for the last week of the Olympics, meet five K-pop and K-drama stars who could have competed in the Games – and possibly even walked away with a gold medal.

With the success of the 2021 K-drama Vincenzo, we have been seeing Song Joong-ki everywhere … but did you know that we could have seen him in the Winter Olympics? Not only is he a skilled actor and a graduate of one of the top business schools in Korea, he can add sports to his list of talents too – specifically short-track speedskating.

He skated for 12 years before his career unfortunately ended with an injury. But he encountered the world of speed skating again as an actor, as one of the first roles he played was that of a gold medallist speed skater in the 2009 K-Drama, Triple, where he acted alongside Min Hyo-rin.

In an alternate universe, Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo might have crossed paths even if they hadn’t co-starred in Descendants of the Sun. Song Hye-kyo was also a winter sports athlete, gliding gracefully around the rink as a figure skater. She trained from junior school through middle school and – who knows – could have become the “queen of figure skating” instead of “queen of K-drama” had she continued.