Kim Ja-in (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: , born 11 September 1988), more widely known in the West as Jain Kim, is a professional climber. She is mainly active in lead climbing and bouldering competitions. She has won the

Lead Climbing World Cup The IFSC Climbing World Cup is a series of climbing competitions held annually and organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). The athletes compete in three disciplines: lead, bouldering and speed. The number of competit ...

three times (2010, 2013, 2014), the Lead Climbing World Championship once (2014), and the

Rock Master Rock Master is an international climbing competition held every year in Arco, Italy. The event takes place in two rounds: the first is an on-sight session and the second is called "after work". The final classification is given by the sum of th ...

once (2010, Lead discipline). Moreover, she has won the Asian Championships 14 times in 15 years, namely 11 times in lead climbing and 3 times in bouldering (see

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor *Bottom (disambiguation) Bottom may refer to: Anatomy and sex * Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or ...

for details). Jain Kim also successfully climbs outdoors. In 2014, she redpointed her first routes graded beyond 8b+; namely Bibita Biologica (8c) and Reini's Vibes (8c/8c+), both in

Arco ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Biography

Boulder Worldcup Vienna 28-05-2010 quali-w040 Jain Kim

Born into a family of mountain-dwellers and climbers, Jain Kim started climbing at the age of 12. In July 2004, at the age of 15, she started competing in the

and since 2006 she has also participated in the

Bouldering World Cup The IFSC Climbing World Cup is a series of climbing competitions held annually and organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). The athletes compete in three disciplines: lead, bouldering and speed. The number of competit ...

. She won the Lead Climbing Asian Championship in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010. In 2008, she also won the Bouldering Asian Championship. In 2009, she ranked second in the Lead Climbing World Cup, second in the Lead Climbing World Championship, second in the

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

(Lead), and third in the

(Lead). In 2010, she won the lead climbing competitions both in the Rock Master and the World Cup. She obtained the World Cup overall title by ranking first in five of the six stages, namely those held in

Xining Xining (; ), alternatively known as Sining, is the capital of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. The city was a commercial hub along the Northern Silk Road's Hexi Corridor for over 2000 years, and wa ...

Chuncheon Chuncheon (; ; formerly romanized as Chunchŏn; literally ''spring river'') is the capital of Gangwon Province in South Korea. The city lies in the north of the county, located in a basin formed by the Soyang River and Han River. There are some ...

Puurs Puurs () is a former municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. It is located in the Flemish Region. The municipality comprised the towns of Breendonk, Liezele, , Ruisbroek (old spelling: ''Ruysbroeck'') and Puurs proper. There is ...

, Huaiji, and

Kranj Kranj (, german: Krainburg) is the third-largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 37,941 (2020). It is located approximately northwest of Ljubljana. The centre of the City Municipality of Kranj and of the traditional region of Upper Carniol ...

. The only World Cup stage that Jain Kim did not win in 2010 was the first one, held in Chamonix. She won the Lead Climbing World Cup again in 2013 and 2014, each time winning four of the eight events. In May and June 2014, she redpointed her first routes in rock

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done fo ...

graded 8b+, namely Bibita Biologica (8c) and Reini's Vibes (8c/8c+), both in

. On September 14, 2014, three days after she had turned 26, she achieved an extraordinary victory at the Lead Climbing World Championships, where she managed to ascend (

on-sight __NOTOC__ This glossary of climbing terms is a list of definitions of terms and jargon related to rock climbing and mountaineering. The specific terms used can vary considerably between different English-speaking countries; many of the phrases d ...

) all of the routes attempted in the qualifications, the semifinals, and the finals. On May 20, 2017, she climbed the 555-meter Lotte World Tower in Seoul.

Personal life

She is married to

Oh Young-hwan Oh Yeong-hwan (February 10, 1988) is a Korean firefighter, essayist and politician. He first served as a military firefighter before being hired as a civilian firefighter in Seoul in 2010. There he worked at the Gwangjin Fire Station, the 119 Sp ...

, member of 21st National Assembly of Korea, who was a firefighter of Seoul Fire Services and writer. On March 10, 2021, Kim gave birth to a daughter.

Rankings

Climbing World Cup

Climbing World Championships

Youth Adult

World Games

Rock Master

Asian Championships

World Cup podiums

Lead

Bouldering

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Ja-in 1988 births Living people Female climbers South Korean rock climbers Korea University alumni World Games silver medalists Competitors at the 2005 World Games Competitors at the 2009 World Games Competitors at the 2013 World Games Asian Games medalists in sport climbing Sport climbers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games People from Goyang Sportspeople from Gyeonggi Province