Kong Sang-jeong (; ; born 22 June 1996 in

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 ...

, Gangwon Province) is a South Korean

short track speed skater Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the same size as a ...

who won a gold Olympic medal at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

in the 3000 metre relay.

Early life

Kong is a third-generation descendant of Chinese immigrants to Korea. Her grandfather fled from

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

in 1949, after the Chinese communist victory in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, and settled in

. Her parents also grew up in Chuncheon and currently runs a clinic in the city. Kong was born with Republic of China nationality. She attended and graduated from Kyongin Elementary School, Wolchon Middle School and Yubong Girls’ High School 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 ...

. During her time in school, Kong suffered insults from her classmates due to her Chinese ethnicity. In 2015, she began her studies for bachelor's degree at the Faculty of International Sports in

Korea University Korea University (KU, ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea, established in 1905. The university is included as one of the SKY universities, a popular acronym referring to Korea's three most prestigious universities. The ...

. She graduated in 2019.

Sports career

When she was in the 5th grade of elementary school, she was transferred to Seoul for training in skating. While attending Wolchon Middle School, she won the overall championship in the junior national skating team selection. As a result, she was chosen to represent South Korea at the junior level already in 2010, but could not compete in the

2011 World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships The 2011 World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships took place between 25 and 27 February 2011 in Courmayeur, Italy at the Forum Sport Center ice rink. The World Championships are organised by the International Skating Union, ISU which ...

as she did not have South Korean citizenship at the time. She was granted citizenship by the South Korean Ministry of Justice in December 2011 thanks to a revised nationality law that allowed dual citizenship for individuals of outstanding talent. She participated in the 2013

World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships The World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships are a junior short track speed skating event and held once a year in a different country. Skaters perform individual races in the 500 meters, 1000 meters, 1500 meters, 1500 meters super fina ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, where she won gold medal in the 3000m relay. During the

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

, she was part of the Short Track Speed Skating team in the '3000m relay' that won a gold medal. After the Olympics, she won the 500m short track at the 95th National Winter Sports Festival in

Seongnam-si Seongnam () is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. Seongnam is a satellite city of Seoul. It is largely a residential city ...

Gyeonggi-do Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

. At the 2015

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, she won gold medals in all-around, 1500m and 3000m relays, and silver medal in 1000m and 1500m super final relays. For her performances, she was named the Lady 2015 ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Champion. On 2016, during selections for junior national skating team, Kong passed the first and second rounds, finishing at fourth position and was selected to the preliminary national team for the 2015-2016 season. However, due to her suffering from a sudden back injury in June, she was not selected for the national team. On 3 May 2021, in an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

post, Kong announced her retirement from international competition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kong, Sang-jeong 1996 births Living people South Korean female speed skaters South Korean female short track speed skaters South Korean people of Chinese descent Olympic short track speed skaters for South Korea Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in short track speed skating Short track speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics South Korean Buddhists Sportspeople from Chuncheon Korea University alumni Naturalized citizens of South Korea 21st-century South Korean women