The government has selected Olympic gold medalist Lee Seung-hoon as the athlete who made the biggest contribution to the nation’s sports this year.

Lee won the gold medal in the men's ten-thousand-meter speed skating event and a silver medal in the men’s five-thousand-meter speed skating event at the Vancouver Winter Olympics held in February.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that Lee had won the national sports award on Thursday.

The national award in the field of sports research will be presented to Professor Kim Ki-jin of Keimyung University, while an achievement award will be given to the head of the Korea Bowling Congress, Chi Joong-sup.

An awards ceremony will be held at Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Friday when the nation marks its day of sports.