Yeo Seo-jeong
Country represented South Korea
Born (2002-02-20) 20 February 2002 (age 21)
Yongin-si, South Korea
Height1.51 m (4 ft 11 in)[1]
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior International Elite
ClubGyeonggi Physical Education High School
Head coach(es)Lee Jeong-Sik
Music2018-19: “Guerrilleros”/“Angel and Devil”
2021: “Run Boy Run”/“Hit The Road Jack”
Eponymous skillsYeo (5.8) (vault): handspring layout double twist
Medal record
Representing  South Korea
Women's artistic gymnastics
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Tokyo Vault
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Antwerp Vault
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Jakarta Vault
Asian Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 Doha Vault
Gold medal – first place 2023 Singapore Vault
Silver medal – second place 2022 Doha Team
Silver medal – second place 2023 Singapore Team
FIG World Cup
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Apparatus World Cup 1 0 0
World Challenge Cup 1 0 0
Total 2 0 0

Yeo Seo-jeong (Hangul: 여서정; born 20 February 2002) is a South Korean artistic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic bronze medalist, 2023 World bronze medalist, the 2018 Asian Games champion, and 2022 Asian champion on vault. She is the first South Korean female gymnast to win an Olympic medal and also the first to win a World Championships medal.

Early life

Yeo Seo-jeong was born on 20 February 2002 in Yongin-si. Both of Yeo's parents are retired gymnasts. Her mother won a team bronze medal in the 1994 Asian Games, and her father, Yeo Hong-chul, was the 1996 Olympic silver medalist on vault. She said in 2018 that she enjoys vault because of her father.[2]

Career

2018

Yeo won the all-around at the South Korean National Championships in addition to winning vault and floor. She also won the silver medal on uneven bars.[3] Then, she made her senior international debut at the Guimaraes Challenge Cup and won the gold medal on vault.[4] She was then selected to compete at the 2018 Asian Games alongside Ham Mi-ju, Kim Ju-ry, Lee Eun-ju, and Yun Na-rae. The team finished in fourth place.[5] Individually, Yeo won the gold medal on vault, and she placed ninth in the all-around, eighth on beam, and seventh on floor.[5] She then competed at the World Championships where she placed fifth on vault.[6] Her final meet of the season was the Voronin Cup where she won vault gold, all-around silver, and floor exercise bronze, and she placed eighth on bars and beam.[7]

2019

Yeo won the gold medal on vault at the Melbourne World Cup. This was the first time that a Korean female gymnast won a gold medal in the FIG World Cup series.[8] At the 2019 Korea Cup, Yeo became the first woman to land the handspring double twist vault. She said of the new vault, "I was afraid, but once I started focusing on the competition, my fear disappeared. I am so happy that I was able to execute that. I wanted to land the new vault regardless of my final rankings today, and everything went my way."[9] The vault was then named after her and added to the Code of Points.[10] At the World Championships in Stuttgart, Yeo qualified to the vault final in fifth place with a score of 14.766.[11] However, she finished last in the final after a fall and going out of bounds when attempting the handspring double twist vault.[12] Because she qualified for the vault event final, Yeo qualified as an individual for the 2020 Olympic Games.[13] After the World Championships, she competed at the Swiss Cup alongside Lee Jun-ho, and they finished seventh in the team competition.[14]

2021

At the 2020 Olympic Games, Yeo competed in the vault final and performed her eponymous vault, which had the highest difficulty value in the final.[15] She finished with an average score of 14.733 and won the bronze medal behind Brazilian Rebeca Andrade and American MyKayla Skinner.[16] This made her the first South Korean female gymnast to win an Olympic medal.[17]

2022

Yeo competed at the 2022 Asian Championships in June. While there she helped South Korea finish second as a team behind China. Individually she won gold on vault and placed fifth in the all-around and on floor exercise.[18]

2023

Yeo competed at the 2023 World Championships where she helped Korea place eleventh as a team during qualifications. In doing so, Korea qualified a full team to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games. Individually Yeo qualified to the vault final. During the final Yeo performed two clean vaults and won the bronze medal behind Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and American Simone Biles. This was the first World Championships medal won by a female South Korean gymnast.[19]

Eponymous skills

Yeo has one eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points.[20]

Apparatus Name Description Difficulty[a] Added to Code of Points
Vault Yeo Handspring forward on - stretched salto forward with 2/1 turn (720°) off 5.8 2019 Korea Cup
  1. ^ Valid for the 2022-2024 Code of Points

Competitive history

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2018 South Korean Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Guimaraes Challenge Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Asian Games 4 9 1st place, gold medalist(s) 8 7
World Championships 5
Voronin Cup 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 8 8 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2019 Melbourne World Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Korea Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
World Championships 8
Swiss Cup 7
2021
Olympic Games 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2022
Asian Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5
World Championships 7
2023 City of Jesolo Trophy 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 8
Asian Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Championships 11 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)

References

  1. ^ "Yeo Seojeong". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Yeo Seo-jeong is ready to step into her father's gym shoes". Korea Joongang Daily. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  3. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (11 June 2018). "2018 South Korean Championships Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  4. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (22 June 2018). "2018 Guimaraes Challenge Cup Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  5. ^ a b Hopkins, Lauren (28 August 2018). "2018 Asian Games Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  6. ^ "48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Women's Vault Final" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  7. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (15 December 2018). "2018 Voronin Cup Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  8. ^ Jeong, Yun-Cheol (25 February 2019). "Yeo Seo-jeong wins gold medal in World Cup Gymnastics". The Dong-a Ilbo. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Yeo Seo-jeong likely to have new vault named after her". Korea Joongang Daily. 22 June 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Teen gymnast enters int'l scoring book with new vault". Yonhap News Agency. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  11. ^ "49th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Stuttgart (GER), 4 October - 13 October 2019 Women's Vault Qualification" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. International Gymnastics Federation. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  12. ^ "49th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Stuttgart (GER), 4 October - 13 October 2019 Women's Vault Final" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. International Gymnastics Federation. 12 October 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  13. ^ "List of the Artistic Gymnastics Tokyo 2020 Olympic Qualifiers" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. International Gymnastics Federation. p. 3. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  14. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (3 November 2019). "2019 Swiss Cup Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong wins bronze medal in women's vault". The Korea Times. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  16. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics Women's Vault Final" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. International Olympic Committee. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  17. ^ "(Olympics) Gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong wins bronze medal in women's vault". Yonhap News Agency. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  18. ^ "2022 Asian Championships Results". The Gymternet. June 20, 2022.
  19. ^ "여서정, 한국 여자체조 최초 세계선수권 메달 획득…도마 동메달" [Yeo Seo-jeong wins the first Korean women's gymnastics World Championships medal...vault bronze medal]. Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). October 7, 2023.
  20. ^ "2022-2024 Code of Points Women's Artistic Gymnastics" (PDF). International Gymnastics Federation. pp. 65, 206. Retrieved 22 January 2022.

External links

Asian Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Vault
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