Kim Mi-Jung (also ''Kim Mi-Jeong'', ko, 김 미정; born June 10, 1979, in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

) is a female

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n race walker. She set both a national record and a personal best time of 1:29:38, by winning the women's 20 km at the 2008 National Sports Festival in

Yeosu Yeosu (; ''Yeosu-si''), historically also Yosu, and known to the Japanese as Reisui during the period when Korea was under Japanese rule, is a city located on the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula in South Jeolla Province, South Korea and ...

. Furthermore, Kim became the first female South Korean to cross the finish line under one hour and thirty minutes, and also, achieved a total of seven national records (2001–2008) and eight straight victories in the same event. Kim made her official debut for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, where she placed twenty-fifth in the women's 20 km race walk, and shattered her first career national record-breaking time of 1:36.09. She also competed at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, but was disqualified from the same event, for not following the proper form during the race course. Eight years after competing in her first Olympics, Kim qualified for her third South Korean team, as a 29-year-old, at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. She successfully finished the women's 20 km race walk in twenty-eighth place by eight seconds ahead of Kazakhstan's

Svetlana Tolstaya Svetlana Nikolayevna Tolstaya-Akimzhanova (russian: Светлана Николаевна Тлстая-Акимжанова; born 9 August 1971) is a Kazakhstani race walker. She was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Achievements External links * spor ...

, with a time of 1:33:55.

References

External links

*
NBC 2008 Olympics profile
South Korean female racewalkers Living people Olympic athletes for South Korea Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Seoul 1979 births Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for South Korea {{SouthKorea-athletics-bio-stub