Kim Ji-yeon 김지연
Personal information
Born	(1988-03-12) 12 March 1988 (age 35) Busan, South Korea
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	57 kg (126 lb)
Sport
Country	South Korea
Sport	Fencing
Weapon	Sabre
Hand	left-handed
Years on national team	2009–present
National coach	Han Joo-yeol
Club	Iksan City Government
Head coach	Lee Soo-geun
FIE ranking	current ranking
Medal record Olympic Games 2012 London Individual 2020 Tokyo Team World Championships 2017 Leipzig Team 2013 Budapest Individual 2018 Wuxi Team 2019 Budapest Team Asian Games 2014 Incheon Team sabre 2018 Jakarta Team sabre 2014 Incheon Individual 2018 Jakarta Individual Asian Championships 2011 Seoul Team 2012 Wakayama Team 2013 Shanghai Individual 2013 Shanghai Team 2014 Suwon Individual 2015 Singapore Team 2017 Hong Kong Individual 2018 Bangkok Individual 2014 Suwon Team 2016 Wuxi Team 2017 Hong Kong Team 2018 Bangkok Team 2015 Singapore Individual 2016 Wuxi Individual Universiade 2013 Kazan Team 2013 Kazan Individual 2011 Shenzhen Individual 2011 Shenzhen Team

Kim Ji-yeon (Hangul: 김지연; Korean pronunciation: [kim.dʑi.jʌn] or [kim] [tɕi.jʌn]; born 12 March 1988) is a South Korean left-handed sabre fencer.^[1]

Kim is a five-time team Asian champion and four-time individual Asian champion.

A three-time Olympian, Kim is a 2021 team Olympic bronze medalist and 2012 individual Olympic champion.

Kim is the first South Korean woman to win an Olympic gold medal in fencing and the second South Korean to win any Olympic medal in fencing after Nam Hyun-hee's silver medal in individual women's foil at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She is also the second South Korean fencer to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games, after Kim Young-ho's gold medal in individual men's foil at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Biography

Kim began fencing at age 13 as a foil fencer, but converted to sabre in high school at age 16 in 2004.

Although she first became a member of the South Korean national fencing team at the age of 18 in 2006, Kim was often overshadowed by fellow sabre fencers Kim Hye-lim, Lee Shin-mi and Kim Keum-hwa, omitted from the final national squad before becoming a fixture in the 2011 season.

Kim began to garner international attention at the 2011 Summer Universiade where she won the bronze medal in the women's individual sabre fencing. In the semifinals, Kim lost to two-time European champion and eventual gold medalist Olha Kharlan of Ukraine 15-10. She accumulated another bronze medal in the women's team sabre as a member of Team South Korea. Kim finished the 2011 season as her first full-time member of the national team, and her FIE ranking rose from 174 to 11.

In February 2012, Kim reached the semifinals at the Orléans Grand Prix,^[2] her first international tournament of the 2012 season. Next month, Kim reached her first individual sabre final at the Antalya World Cup in Turkey.^[3] In May 2012, Kim became a semi-finalist at the Bologna World Cup in Italy^[4] and the Tianjin Grand Prix in China^[5] in a row. Her success in these tournaments increased her FIE ranking to 5th before the start of the 2012 Olympics.

2012 Olympics

Kim competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London capturing the gold medal in the women's individual sabre event. This was South Korea's second Olympic gold medal in fencing, Kim Young-ho having won the men's foil Gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Kim reached the final when she defeated two-time Olympic individual sabre champion Mariel Zagunis 15–13 in the semifinal match. Largely regarded as the underdog by both competitors and her teammates, she came back from a 12–5 deficit against Zagunis to advance into the finals.^[6]

Kim beat Russia's Sofya Velikaya, the reigning world champion, 15–9 in the gold medal match. Kim asserted her dominance early in the contest, with her opponent having little say in the outcome of the first period with an 8–5 triumph for Kim. Velikaya struggled to recover from the setback and the second period followed in much the same way as the first as Kim won 7–4 to win the gold medal.^[7]

Medal Record

Olympic Games

Year	Location	Event	Position
2012	London, United Kingdom	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[8]
2021	Tokyo, Japan	Team Women's Sabre	3rd[9]

World Championship

Year	Location	Event	Position
2013	Budapest, Hungary	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[10]
2017	Leipzig, Germany	Team Women's Sabre	2nd[11]
2018	Wuxi, China	Team Women's Sabre	3rd[12]
2019	Budapest, Hungary	Team Women's Sabre	3rd[13]

Asian Championship

Year	Location	Event	Position
2011	Seoul, South Korea	Team Women's Sabre	1st[14]
2012	Wakayama, Japan	Team Women's Sabre	1st[15]
2013	Shanghai, China	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[16]
2013	Shanghai, China	Team Women's Sabre	1st[17]
2014	Suwon, South Korea	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[18]
2014	Suwon, South Korea	Team Women's Sabre	2nd[19]
2015	Singapore	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[20]
2015	Singapore	Team Women's Sabre	1st[21]
2016	Wuxi, China	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[22]
2016	Wuxi, China	Team Women's Sabre	2nd[23]
2017	Hong Kong, China	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[24]
2017	Hong Kong, China	Team Women's Sabre	2nd[25]
2018	Bangkok, Thailand	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[26]
2018	Bangkok, Thailand	Team Women's Sabre	2nd[27]
2019	Tokyo, Japan	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[28]
2019	Tokyo, Japan	Team Women's Sabre	2nd[29]
2022	Seoul, South Korea	Team Women's Sabre	1st[30]

Grand Prix

Date	Location	Event	Position
2011-03-26	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[31]
2012-02-10	Orléans, France	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[32]
2012-05-19	Tianjin, China	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[33]
2013-05-25	Tianjin, China	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[34]
2014-01-31	Orléans, France	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[35]
2014-05-24	Beijing, China	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[36]
2016-12-16	Cancún, Mexico	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[37]
2018-05-12	Moscow, Russia	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[38]
2019-04-26	Seoul, South Korea	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[39]

World Cup

Date	Location	Event	Position
2012-03-09	Antalya, Turkey	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[40]
2012-05-04	Bologna, Italy	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[41]
2013-03-15	Antalya, Turkey	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[42]
2013-05-03	Chicago, Illinois	Individual Women's Sabre	1st[43]
2016-02-19	Sint-Niklaas, Belgium	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[44]
2016-05-13	Foshan, China	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[45]
2016-11-18	Orléans, France	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[46]
2017-01-27	New York, New York	Individual Women's Sabre	2nd[47]
2017-02-17	Athens, Greece	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[48]
2019-03-08	Athens, Greece	Individual Women's Sabre	3rd[49]