Choi Hye-ra

Choi Hye-ra

Personal information
Full name	Choi Hye-ra
National team	South Korea
Born	20 May 1991 Seoul, South Korea
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	56 kg (123 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Butterfly, medley
Club	Osan Sports[1]
Medal record Women's swimming Representing South Korea Universiade 2011 Shenzhen 200 m medley Asian Games 2006 Doha 200 m butterfly 2010 Guangzhou 200 m butterfly 2010 Guangzhou 200 m medley 2010 Guangzhou 4×200 m freestyle

Choi Hye-Ra (Korean: 최 혜라; born May 20, 1991) is a South Korean swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and individual medley events.^[1][2] She collected a total of four medals (1 silver and 3 bronze) in the 200 m butterfly, 200 m individual medley, and the 800 m freestyle relay at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, and at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.^[3][4] She also won a silver medal in the same medley distance at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China, scorching a time of 2:14.17.^[5] Choi is a resident athlete of Osan Sports Club in Seoul.^[1]

Choi made her official debut, as a 17-year-old, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She qualified for three swimming events by eclipsing a FINA A-cut of 2:09.46 (200 m butterfly) from the International Swim Meet in Chiba, Japan.^[6] On the first night of the preliminaries, Choi challenged five other swimmers in heat two including Cyprus' Natallia Hadjiloizou (previously competed for Belarus). She finished behind Estonia's Triin Aljand in second place and fortieth overall with a time of 1:00.65.^[7] In the 200 m individual medley, Choi touched out Slovenia's Anja Klinar to take the third spot on the same heat and twenty-fourth overall by 0.13 of a second, in a time of 2:15.26.^[8] In her third and final event, 200 m butterfly, Choi rounded out a top seeded heat with a last-place finish by nearly a second behind Brazil's Joanna Melo in 2:11.42. Choi failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed twenty-third overall in the preliminary heats.^[9]

Four years later, Choi qualified for two swimming events at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London by clearing FINA A-standard entry times of 2:13.00 (200 m individual medley) and 2:08.81 (200 m butterfly) from the FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China.^[10][11] In the 200 m individual medley, Choi finished heat four in sixth place by 0.19 of a second behind Great Britain's Sophie Allen, lowering her Olympic time to 2:14.91. She placed twenty-fourth in the preliminary heats, and did not advance further into the semifinals.^[12] Unlike her previous Olympics, Choi registered a tenth fastest time of 2:08.45 in the 200 m butterfly to secure her spot for the semifinals on the morning's preliminary heats.^[13][14] Choi failed to qualify for the final, as she finished the semifinal run with a third-slowest time of 2:08.32.^[15]

References

1. "Choi Hye-Ra". London 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
2. "Choi Hye-Ra". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
3. "S.Korea Adds 5 Golds and Advances to the 3rd Round in Soccer". KBS World. 18 November 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
4. "Asian Games: Sun Yang Rattles Grant Hackett's World Record, Ye Shiwen Shines". Swimming World Magazine. 18 November 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
5. "Asian champion Tang breaks Universiade record of women's 100m freestyle". Xinhua News Agency. China Daily. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
6. "Olympic Cut Sheet – Women's 200m Butterfly" (PDF). Swimming World Magazine. p. 76. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
7. "Women's 100m Butterfly Heat 2". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
8. "Women's 200m Individual Medley Heat 2". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
9. "Women's 200m Butterfly Heat 5". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
10. "Qualifying Athletes – Women's 200 m butterfly" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
11. "Qualifying Athletes – Women's 200 m individual medley" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
12. "Women's 200m Individual Medley Heat 4". London 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
13. "Women's 200m Butterfly Heat 2". London 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
14. "2012 London Olympics: Kathleen Hersey Nabs Top Seed in Women's 200 Fly; Jiao Liuyang, Liu Zige, Cammile Adams, Jessicah Schipper Among Other Qualifiers". Swimming World Magazine. 31 July 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
15. "Women's 200m Butterfly Semifinal 1". London 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2013.

External links

• NBC Olympics Profile