Lee Ji-hyun (also Lee Ji-hyeon, Korean: 이 지현; born March 10, 1982) is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in individual medley events.[1] She represented her nation South Korea in two editions of the Olympic Games (1996 and 2000), and also a top eight finalist in the 400 m individual medley at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand.
Lee made her first South Korean team, as a fourteen-year-old teen, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, swimming only in the women's 400 m individual medley.[2] There, she fought off a sprint freestyle challenge from Hsieh Shu-tzu to invincibly dip the five-minute barrier for the sixth spot and twenty-eighth overall in the opening heat, finishing with a time of 4:59.52.[3]
At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Lee qualified for the second time in the 400 m individual medley by clearing FINA B-cut of 4:48.76 from the Dong-A Swimming Championships in Ulsan.[4] Swimming in the last of four heats, Lee came from behind at the final turn to edge out Malaysia's Sia Wai Yen with a robust freestyle kick for the seventh seed in 4:58.94, just ten seconds below her submitted entry standard. Lee failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed twenty-third overall on the first day of prelims.[5][6]
^"여중생 이지현 "내목표는 수영 올림픽메달리스트" ["My goal is to become South Korea's first ever Olympic swimming medalist"] (in Korean). JoongAng Ilbo. 21 June 1996. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
