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Kim Ki-taik

Athletes · Tennis · milestone at age 20 ·T3 Domain-recognized

Milestone (age 20)

Won the Asian Games silver medal in men's doubles at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi at age 20; later won Olympic silver in men's singles at the 1988 Seoul Olympics at age 26.

Kim was selected for the South Korean national table tennis team in 1980 at age 18. He won the Asian Games silver medal in doubles at New Delhi in 1982 at age 20, and became the first Korean male to reach the World Championship singles quarterfinal in 1983 at age 21. He won the Olympic silver medal in singles at the 1988 Seoul Olympics at age 26.

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Starting point

Born in South Korea; lived with fellow table tennis player Choi Sun-ho during youth; family background otherwise not documented in reviewed sources.

Current position (2025)

Retired from competitive table tennis in 1989; later served as coach for the national team and Samsung Life table tennis team; currently age 63.

How this path compounded

01 Starting advantages

9/24 starting-position score

Strongest documented signals: Elite institution pipeline, Direct domain exposure, Frontier geography.

Describes the starting position, not what the person later made of it.

Cohort percentile: 65

02 Built or converted leverage

13/25 multiplying-capacity score

Strongest observed levers:Domain proximity, Started serious reps before 20, Prior reps.

Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.

Cohort percentile: 80

03 Compounding trajectory

6 documented steps

The timeline below shows the sequence of work and transitions around the selected early milestone. It is evidence of a path, not proof that every step was necessary.

Milestone at age 20

04 Observed career standing

T3 · Domain-recognized

Notable and widely recognized within the domain. The tier summarizes documented career recognition through the data cutoff—not Kim Ki-taik's worth or future potential.

How tiers work →

Question four · where did the leverage come from?

Kim Ki-taik's leverage provenance

Each non-zero lever gets a best-supported origin, evidence signals, and confidence. Unresolved is the honest default when the biography cannot distinguish self-built, advantage-enabled, earned, external, or mixed.

Started serious reps before 201/1

Advantage-enabledmedium confidence

One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.

Rare early tools (1/2)Dedicated mentor / coach (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)

Domain proximity2/2

Advantage-enabledmedium confidence

One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.

Direct domain exposure (2/2)Frontier geography (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)

Prior reps2/3

Advantage-enabledmedium confidence

One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.

Rare early tools (1/2)Dedicated mentor / coach (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)

Scarce skill depth2/3

Advantage-enabledmedium confidence

One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.

Rare early tools (1/2)Dedicated mentor / coach (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)

Elite ecosystem network2/3

Advantage-enabledmedium confidence

One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.

Elite institution pipeline (2/2)Frontier geography (1/2)Exceptional peer / cofounder (1/2)

Concentration intensity2/3

Advantage-enabledmedium confidence

One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.

Dedicated mentor / coach (1/2)

Complementary team1/2

Advantage-enabledmedium confidence

One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.

Exceptional peer / cofounder (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)

Structural wave / timing1/3

Externalmedium confidence

A structural wave is external to the person, even when their position improved access to it.

Frontier geography (1/2)

This is a bounded inference from the current annotations—not a claim about private effort, merit, or the percentage of Kim Ki-taik's outcome attributable to any origin.

Luck is not a leftover score.

Structural luck, Encounter luck, Event luck, Outcome variance can change every arrow in the path. This successful-only dataset cannot observe the near-identical paths that did not break through, so luck stays visible and unscored.

Within Athletes, Kim Ki-taik's starting-advantage total is at the 65th percentile. Separately, their built or converted leverage total is at the 80th percentile. Other T3 profiles average 7.0 / 24 starting advantage and 11.7 / 25 leverage. Similar scores appear in other tiers, so these figures describe positioning—not a cause.

Trajectory

1980 · age 18
Selected for the South Korean national table tennis team
For the first time.
1982 · age 20
Won Asian Games silver medal in men's doubles at New Delhi.
1983 · age 21
Became the first Korean male to reach the World Championship singles quarterfinal at Tokyo.
1985 · age 23
Reached the World Championship singles quarterfinal again at Gothenburg.
1988 · age 26
Won Olympic silver medal in men's singles
The Seoul Olympics.
1989 · age 27
Retired from competitive table tennis.

Primary leverage engine

Early specialization

Early specialization / prior reps

Secondary engine

Physical talent

Built/converted leverage

13 / 25

evidence: Medium

Built or converted leverage

Multiplying capacity documented later in the path. Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.

Started serious reps before 20

1/1

Prior reps

2/3

Scarce skill depth

2/3

Native distribution

0/3

Elite ecosystem network

2/3

Complementary team

1/2

Structural wave / timing

1/3

Concentration intensity

2/3

Capital safety

0/2

Domain proximity

2/2

Starting-advantage scores (0–2 each)

Access or conditions documented near the beginning of the path. Zero means "no clear evidence in reviewed sources," not "advantage was absent."

Family financial platform

0/2

Parent / family domain

0/2

Inherited audience / network

0/2

Elite institution pipeline

2/2

Frontier geography

1/2

Rare early tools

1/2

Dedicated mentor / coach

1/2

Exceptional peer / cofounder

1/2

Early online platform

0/2

Direct domain exposure

2/2

Prodigy / innate ability

1/2

Adversity / constraint catalyst

0/2

Family context

Born in South Korea; lived with fellow table tennis player Choi Sun-ho during youth, suggesting a sports-oriented environment. Family background not otherwise documented.

Parent / family domain

Not documented in reviewed sources.

Archetype & tags

Elite performance pipelineKorean national teamSamsung Life professional teamearly selectionAsian Games medal

Evidence summary

Kim was selected for the South Korean national table tennis team in 1980 at age 18 and won an Asian Games silver medal in doubles at 20 in 1982. He became the first Korean male to reach the World Championship singles quarterfinal in 1983. His development was facilitated by South Korea's national team system and the Samsung Life professional team structure, though specific family background details are not documented in reviewed sources.

advantage confidence: Medium · source count: 3 · audit: not_independently_audited · status: subagent_researched_beta

Sources

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