Choi Hye-ra
Personal information
Full nameChoi Hye-ra
National team South Korea
Born (1991-05-20) 20 May 1991
Seoul, South Korea
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight56 kg (123 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesButterfly, medley
ClubOsan Sports[1]
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing South Korea
Universiade
Silver medal – second place2011 Shenzhen 200 m medley
Asian Games
Silver medal – second place2006 Doha 200 m butterfly
Bronze medal – third place2010 Guangzhou 200 m butterfly
Bronze medal – third place2010 Guangzhou 200 m medley
Bronze medal – third place2010 Guangzhou 4×200 m freestyle

Choi Hye-Ra (Korean: 최혜라; born May 20, 1991) is a South Korean swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and individual medley events.[1][2] She collected 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, with a time of 2:14.17.[5] She is a resident athlete of Osan Sports Club in Seoul.[1]

Choi made her official debut at age 17, 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, she 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 40th overall with a time of 1:00.65.[7] In the 200 m individual medley, she touched out Slovenia's Anja Klinar to take the third spot on the same heat and 24th overall by 0.13 of a second, in a time of 2:15.26.[8] In her third and final event, 200 m butterfly, she rounded out a top seeded heat with a last-place finish by nearly a second behind Brazil's Joanna Melo in 2:11.42. She failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed 23rd 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, she 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 24th in the preliminary heats, and did not advance further into the semifinals.[12] Unlike her previous Olympics, she 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] She failed to qualify for the final, as she finished the semifinal run with a third-slowest time of 2:08.32.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Choi Hye-Ra". London 2012. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  2. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Choi Hye-Ra". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. 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. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. 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. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  9. ↑ "Women's 200m Butterfly Heat 5". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  10. ↑ "Qualifying Athletes – Women's 200 m butterfly" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  11. ↑ "Qualifying Athletes – Women's 200 m individual medley" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  12. ↑ "Women's 200m Individual Medley Heat 4". London 2012. Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  13. ↑ "Women's 200m Butterfly Heat 2". London 2012. Archived from the original on 6 December 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. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  15. ↑ "Women's 200m Butterfly Semifinal 1". London 2012. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
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