Lee Hyo-jung (badminton)

In 1998, Lee who attended the Haksan Girls' High School won the girls' singles, doubles, and mixed doubles events at the German Junior tournament. She was competed at the World and Asian Junior Championships. At the World Junior, she partnered with Jun Woul-sik in the girls' doubles and Choi Min-ho in the mixed doubles, captured the bronze and silver medals respectively.[1] She and Jun also won the silver medal at the Asian Junior.[2] Lee junior competed in some international senior (level 4) tournament, and won double titles at the Korea and Sri Lanka International, also women's doubles title at the Hungarian, Australian and Norwegian International tournaments.

In 2000, Lee won the Asian Championships in the women's doubles event with her partner Yim Kyung-jin.[3] At the age of 19, Lee competed at the Sydney Olympics in the women's doubles with Yim and in the mixed doubles with Lee Dong-soo. She and Yim defeated in the second round, while with Lee Dong-soo defeated in the first round.[4][5]

In 2002, she finished as the runners-up at the Chinese Taipei and Singapore Open in the women's doubles event with Hwang Yu-mi. In 2003, she and Hwang also the runner-up at the Thailand and Chinese Taipei Open. In the mixed doubles event, Lee who was teamed-up with Kim Yong-hyun achieved their best result by winning the bronze medal at the Asian Championships. In 2004, Lee competed for Korea at the Summer Olympics in women's and mixed doubles with partner Hwang Yu-mi and Kim Yong-hyun.[6] Lee and Hwang had a bye in the first round and defeated Cheng Wen-Hsing and Chien Yu Chin of Chinese Taipei in the second. In the quarterfinals, Lee and Hwang lost to Zhao Tingting and Wei Yili of China 8–15, 15–6, 15–13. In the mixed doubles event, Lee and Kim were seeded three, but the pairs defeat by the Danish pair in the second round in the rubber game.

In 2008, Lee won her first All England Open Championship title in women's doubles with partner Lee Kyung-won, beating Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen in the semifinals and Du Jing and Yu Yang in the final. In August, she and Lee Yong-dae won mixed doubles gold medals in Beijing Olympics, beating Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto of Indonesia and also with Lee Kyung-won grabbed the silver medal in the women's doubles event. In 2009, Lee and Lee Yong-dae became world number one. They won three titles: Korea Open Super Series, Asian Badminton Championship, and China Open Super Series. They also played for Korea in Sudirman Cup in May. In the final, Korea lost to China 0-3. Lee and Lee were defeated by the Chinese pair, Zheng Bo and Yu Yang.

In 2010, Lee competed in the 2010 Uber Cup as a member of the South Korean women's national team. There she led her team to its first Uber Cup trophy, winning all 4 doubles matches she competed in through the tourney. In the finals, she and her partner Kim Min-jung won against WR #1 Ma Jin and Wang Xiaoli, beating them 18–21, 21–12, 21–15. Although Lee and Kim were not regular partners and Lee Hyo-Jung stopped playing WD regularly in international games, Lee played exceptionally well, proving why she was the most successful player in the 2008 Olympics, winning both gold and silver medals. In June, Lee continued on playing women's doubles with Kim Min-jung, winning the Indonesia Open and the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold, and finishing as a runner-up in the Singapore Open. While waiting for Lee Yong-dae to recover from his injury, she played mixed doubles with Shin Baek-cheol.

In August, Lee partnered again with Lee Yong-dae in the Kumpoo Macau Open Badminton Championships, Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold, and World Championship, but their best finish was reaching the quarterfinals in the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix. They were hit with Lee Hyo Jung's back injury and Lee Yong-dae getting used to playing again after rehab and possibly not fully recovering from the previous injury. Due to these reasons, the head coach of the Korea Badminton Team was quoted as saying that Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Yong-dae had not had sufficient time to practice together. Lee Yong-dae decided to stop playing mixed doubles altogether, possibly due to the strain on his injured elbow from playing both men's and mixed doubles. In November, Lee Hyo-jung entered Asian Games in three games total: women's, mixed, and team event. In the women's doubles and team event, she won bronze medals. However, in mixed doubles, she partnered with Shin Baek-cheol, with whom she had previously played only two tournaments, but they still managed to win against two Chinese pairs (Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, He Han Bin and Ma Jin) at their home court, becoming the first woman in Korean history to win both Olympic and Asian Game gold medals.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lee Hyo-jung.

• Lee Hyo-jung on Cyworld (in Korean)
• LEE Hyo Jung at InternationalBadminton.org at the Wayback Machine (archived October 29, 2007)
• LEE Hyo Jung at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com
• Lee Hyo-jung at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)