Hobbies
Playing guitar. (Chosun Sinbo's Youtube channel, 01 Feb 2015)
Occupation
Athlete
Spoken languages
Korean
Club
Pyongyang City Sports Club [DPR Korea]
Coach
Kim Chun Pil [club, national], PRK (yonhapnews.co.kr, 12 Dec 2014; tongilnews.com, 26 Dec 2015)
Sporting relatives
Her sister Hong Su-Jong was an artistic gymnast, and won gold on uneven bars at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. She was later at the centre of an investigation by the International Gymnastics Federation [FIG] into age falsification that led to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea gymnastics team being banned from international competition between 2010 and 2012. She retired from the sport due to injuries. (gymnasticscoaching.com, 28 Sep 2013; telegraph.co.uk, 06 Nov 2010; Chosun Sinbo's Youtube channel, 01 Feb 2015)
International senior debut
2006 for DPR Korea, Asian Championships in Surat, India (dailynk.com, 03 Dec 2006)
Injuries
She withdrew from the uneven bars at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, Republic of Korea, due to a shoulder injury. (hani.co.kr, 25 Sep 2014)
Start sporting career
She began gymnastics at age seven. (fig-gymnastics.com, 11 Jun 2010)
Reason for taking up the sport
Her parents encouraged her to take up the sport. (yonhapnews.co.kr, 20 Aug 2008 )
Awards
She was named People's Athlete in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea at age 19. (Chosun Sinbo's Youtube channel, 01 Feb 2015)
She was named in the Top 10 Athlete in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 2008 and 2014. (tongilnews.com, 31 Dec 2008;sports.163.com,03 Feb 2015)
Additional information
General
NATIONAL FIRST
At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing she became the first female athlete from Democratic People's Republic of Korea to win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics. (nksc.co.kr, 19 Aug 2008)
Last update : 2016-04-07
32
0
123
