Park Hye-won (

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 ...

: 박혜원,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 朴慧園; born August 15, 1983, 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 retired

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 ...

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 ...

Early career

Park started skating at the age of 10. In 1997, at 14, she was first called up to the South Korean national short track speed skating team for the 1998 Asian Short Track Speed Skating Championships where she won gold medals in the 3000 metres and 3000 metre relay. In 1998, Park claimed her spot in Team Korea, ranked 1st in the national trials, and then she competed in the 1998–99

Short Track Speed Skating World Cup The Short Track Speed Skating World Cup is a series of international short track speed skating competitions, organised yearly by the International Skating Union since the winter of 1998/1999. Every year during the winter, a number of competitions on ...

series. At the first event held in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, Park finished 1st in the 1500 metre race, beating

Yang Yang (A) Yang Yang (; born 24 August 1976 in Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, China) is a retired Chinese short track speed skater. She is a two-time Olympic Champion from 2002 Winter Olympics and a six-time Overall World Champion for 1997–2002. Known as Yan ...

. However, at the second event in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, she tore her hamstring, bumping with a British opponent during a race, and was sidelined for a whole year.

1999–2001

In 1999, Park came back from the hamstring injury and participated in the Asian Short Track Speed Skating Championships. She won four gold medals (1000 metres, 1500 metres, 3000 metres, and 3000 metre relay), sweeping all the women's events except for the 500 metres. During the 1999–2000 World Cup, Park won two gold medals in the 3000 metres and one silver in the 1500 metres. In 2000, Park won two silver medals (3000 metre relay and 1500 metres) at the 2000 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships held in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and added another silver at the World Team Championships held in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. She set the 3000 metre unofficial world record and current Korean national record of an astonishing 4:42.15, a time considered far out of reach of even the best present athletes, on April 8, 2000, in the Korean national championships. In 2001, Park captured another 3000 metre gold medal on December 17 in the fifth event of the 2001–02 World Cup held in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, finishing the race ahead of Yang Yang (A) with a margin of 16 seconds.

2002 Winter Olympics

Park first participated at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

in February 2002. Since the 3000 metre individual race had not been a part of Olympic events, the 3000 metre specialist competed only in the 3000 metre relay at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

, combining with

Choi Eun-kyung Choi Eun-kyung (Hangul: 최은경, Hanja: 崔恩景, born December 26, 1984) is a South Korean short track speed skater. She is a double Olympic Champion in relays and a two-time Overall World Champion for 2003 and 2004. Biography At the 200 ...

Choi Min-kyung Choi Min-kyung (Hangul: 최민경, Hanja: 崔敏敬) (born 25 August 1982) is a South Korean short track speed skater. She who won a gold medal in the 3000 m relay at the 2002 Winter Olympics, together with teammates C ...

, and

Joo Min-jin Joo Min-jin (Hangul: 주민진, Hanja: 朱敏眞) (born 1 August 1983 in Seoul) is a retired South Korean short track speed skater. She who won a gold medal in the 3000 m relay at the 2002 Winter Olympics, together with teammates Choi Eun-kyun ...

. Team Korea eventually won its third consecutive Olympic women's 3000 metre relay gold medal, setting the new world record in the final race. In April 2002, at the 2002 World Championships, Park led the Korean relay team to its first world championship in the history of the team.

Retirement

Upon entering college at

Sungshin Women's University Sungshin Women's University (Korean: 성신여자대학교) is a private women's university located in Seoul, South Korea. It was founded in 1936 by Dr. Sook-Chong Lee. During the 1960s and 70s, Sungshin was a Teachers College in South Korea. Th ...

after the Olympics, Park focused mainly on her studies. After winning gold in the 3000 metre relay at the 2003 Winter Universiade, Park retired from skating.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Hye-Won 1983 births Living people South Korean female speed skaters South Korean female short track speed skaters 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 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists FISU World University Games gold medalists for South Korea Universiade medalists in short track speed skating Medalists at the 2003 Winter Universiade 21st-century South Korean women