Full name Lee Ji-hyun Strokes Backstroke, medley | Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) Name Lee Ji-hyun Weight 55 kg (121 lb) | |
Born 27 June 1978 (age 46) ( 1978-06-27 ) Seoul, South Korea | ||
Lee Ji-hyun (also Lee Ji-hyeon, Korean: 이 지현; born March 10, 1982) is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in individual medley events. She represented her nation South Korea in two editions of the Olympic Games (1996 and 2000), and also a top eight finalist in the 400 m individual medley at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand.
Lee made her first South Korean team, as a fourteen-year-old teen, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, swimming only in the women's 400 m individual medley. There, she fought off a sprint freestyle challenge from Hsieh Shu-tzu to invincibly dip the five-minute barrier for the sixth spot and twenty-eighth overall in the opening heat, finishing with a time of 4:59.52.
At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Lee qualified for the second time in the 400 m individual medley by clearing FINA B-cut of 4:48.76 from the Dong-A Swimming Championships in Ulsan. Swimming in the last of four heats, Lee came from behind at the final turn to edge out Malaysia's Sia Wai Yen with a robust freestyle kick for the seventh seed in 4:58.94, just ten seconds below her submitted entry standard. Lee failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed twenty-third overall on the first day of prelims.