Jeong Ji-yeon Sets 800m Korean Record

Jeong Ji-yeon (17, Gyeonggi Sports High School) set a Korean record in the 800m freestyle swimming event. At yesterday’s female high school division final held as a part of the 78th Dong-A Swimming Competition, Jeong finished in 8:45:28 in a close race against her fellow national team member Lee Ji-eun (Jeil High School). Jeong shortened the Korean record that had been set by Seo Yeon-jeong (8:48:64) in 2005 at the Korea Sports Festival by 3.36 seconds.

The up-and-coming swimmer competed in the 800m freestyle event for the first time as part of her stamina training which started in the winter. The two events Jeong excels in are the 200m and the 400m individual medley, in which she holds the current national record time of 4:43:29. Jeong has a physique of 177 cm and 60 kg. The speed of her athletic growth has been tremendous since she first joined the national team in March of 2005. She cut her time in the 400m individual medley by 15 seconds in just one year. “Ji-yeon has a strong build and lots of stamina. She’ll present more surprises once she corrects her habit of twisting her body during the breaststroke and backstroke,” said Bang Jun-yeong, the national swim team coach. Since last year’s East Asian Games in which she won gold in the 400m individual medley and silver in the 200m, Jeong set her goal on sweeping the two events in the upcoming Doha Asian Games in December this year. To this end, she cuts through a 15,000m distance of water everyday: 6,500m in the morning and 8,500m in the afternoon.

Until reaching sixth grade, Jeong considered swimming a leisure activity. Her talent had been overshadowed by Nam Yu-seon (Seoul National University) and Lee Eun-hye (Jeju City) until she joined the national team last year and started to take strides.

Jeong has swept three events in this year’s Dong-A Swimming Competition, including the 200m individual medley and the 800m relay. She expects to collect a sum of one million won in prize money.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@dogna.com