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Toby Dawson      

Adopted by American Parents After Getting Lost in Korea; Coach for the Korean National Freestyle Skiing Team

Toby Dawson is a retired American mogul skier. He won a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Toby Dawson is a featured athlete on the sports medicine show Athlete 360. He is currently a coach for the Korean national freestyle skiing team.

Dawson was born in Busan, South Korea as Kim Bong-seok. When he was three, then-Kim Bong-seok was at a crowded Jungang market in Beomil-dong, Dong-gu, Busan with his mother and went missing. His father went through many orphanages in the area for days, and his son was nowhere to be found. A couple from Vail, Colorado, who were ski instructors, adopted Kim Bong-seok and he was renamed Toby Dawson.

A man from Busan, Kim Jae-su, saw Dawson's image in the media; Kim had a missing son of Dawson's age, and a DNA test proved that Jae-su is indeed Dawson's biological father. Dawson and Kim met in Seoul for the first time on Wednesday, February 28, 2007, along with Kim's younger son. Dawson has stated his intent to start a foundation, named after his birth name, to prevent such cases in the future. After the reunion, Kim, Dawson and his biological younger brother had lunch.

He is a PR ambassador for Korea National Tourism Organization and the 2014 and 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee.

News


Catching up with Toby Dawson | OlympicTalk
2006 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist Toby Dawson is in a unique position for the next four years. The retired moguls skier, lost at a South Korean market at age 3 ...

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