Lee Hyo-jung (Korean: 이효정; Hanja: 李孝貞; Korean pronunciation: [i.ɦjo.dʑʌŋ]; born 13 January 1981) is a South Korean former badminton player.
She won the gold medal in badminton mixed doubles at the 2008 Summer Olympics with her partner, Lee Yong-dae. Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Yong-dae were unseeded, and in the finals they beat the top seeds and 2005 and 2007 world champions Liliyana Natsir and Nova Widianto of Indonesia, 21-11, 21-17.
Lee Hyo-jung also won the silver medal in badminton women's doubles at the aforementioned Olympics with Lee Kyung-won; they were seeded fourth and lost to the second-seeded Chinese pair, Du Jing and Yu Yang.
Lee became the first woman in Korean history to win gold medals at both the Olympics and the Asian Games. In the 2010 Asian Games, she partnered with Shin Baek-cheol instead of her usual partner, Lee Yong-dae. After winning the medal, she announced her retirement despite many pleas from her coaches and fans at home to continue playing until the London Olympics in 2012.
Contents
Career
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. She and Jun also won the silver medal at the Asian Junior. 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. 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.
In 2002, Lee 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 the women's and mixed doubles with partner Hwang Yu-mi and Kim Yong-hyun respectively. 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 quarter-finals, 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 Liliyana 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.
Achievements
Olympic Games
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
BWF World Championships
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
Asian Games
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
Asian Championships
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
World Junior Championships
Girls' doubles
Mixed doubles
Asian Junior Championships
Girls' doubles
BWF Superseries (9 titles, 10 runners-up)
The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries has two level such as Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end.
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
BWF Superseries Finals tournament
BWF Superseries Premier tournament
BWF Superseries tournament
BWF Grand Prix (13 titles, 16 runners-up)
The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix was sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006.
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
BWF & IBF tournament
BWF International Challenge/Series/Satellite (8 titles, 2 runners-up)
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
BWF International Challenge tournament
BWF International Series tournament