"Like Mother, Like Daughter"... First Mother-Daughter Badminton Gold Medalists Emerge

Kim Hye-jeong, Medalist in Women's Team Event
Her Mother is Jeonbuk Sports Council Director Jeong So-young

At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games women's badminton team event, South Korea won the gold medal, marking the first time in badminton history that a mother-daughter duo became gold medalists.

Director Jeong So-young (left) and player Kim Hye-jung [Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 1st, at the Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, South Korea achieved a commanding 3-0 victory over China in the final of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games women's badminton team event. With this, the women's badminton team won the gold medal for the first time in 29 years since the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games team event.

This is the second time the South Korean women's badminton team has won the team event since the 1994 Hiroshima Games. The players who participated in the team event at the Hiroshima Games were Jeong So-young, Bang Soo-hyun, Gil Young-ah, and Ra Kyung-min. Among them, Kim Hye-jung (Samsung Life), the daughter of Jeong So-young, the current director of the Jeonbuk Sports Council and former coach of Jeonju Seongsim Girls' High School, participated in this tournament and followed in her mother's footsteps to win the gold medal. Although Kim Hye-jung did not play in the match that day as the previously competing team members had already defeated China 3-0, she was selected as a national team member and stood on the podium with them.

Director Jeong was a dominant player in the world badminton scene in the 1990s, having won a gold medal in doubles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Kim Hye-jung's father is Kim Beom-sik, a former player who currently coaches a high school badminton team. Kim Hye-jung is the eldest of three daughters born to this couple.

After winning their first gold medal at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, the South Korean women's badminton team faced the misfortune of losing to China and being eliminated five consecutive times at the 1998 Bangkok Games, 2002 Busan Games, 2006 Doha Games, 2010 Guangzhou Games, and 2014 Incheon Games. In the previous tournament, the 2018 Jakarta Games, they only reached the quarterfinals. It took a whole generation to win the gold medal again.

Director Jeong said, "I am proud of all our players, including my daughter Hye-jung," and added, "Winning after 29 years is important, but I hope this tournament gives them confidence to achieve good results at the Paris Olympics next year."