Choi Soo-min (also ''Choi Su-min'', ko, 최 수민; born April 12, 1981) is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke events. She won a bronze medal, as a 17-year-old, at the

1998 Asian Games The 1998 Asian Games (), officially known as the 13th Asian Games and the XIII Asiad, was an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and disciplines participated by 6,554 ...

, and later represented

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

. Choi made her own swimming history at the

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populatio ...

, where she captured a bronze medal in the 100 m backstroke at 1:03.37, finishing behind Japanese duo Mai Nakamura and

Tomoko Hagiwara is a retired Japanese backstroke, butterfly and medley swimmer. She represented her native country at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. She is best known for winning two gold medals at the 1999 Summer Universiade in Palma de Mallorc ...

by more than a full body length. At the

in Sydney, Choi swam only in the

women's 200 m backstroke A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

. She achieved a

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

B-cut of 2:15.71 from the Asian Championships in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

. She challenged seven other swimmers in heat three, including Hagiwara, Australia's top favorite

Clementine Stoney Clementine Stoney (born 22 October 1981) is an Australian former competitive swimmer and former world record-holder. She represented Australia at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. There she finished in thirteenth position in the 200-metre b ...

, and Romania's

Diana Mocanu Diana Iuliana Mocanu (born 19 July 1984 in Brăila) is a Romanian former Olympic and national record holding swimmer. She swam at the 2000 Olympics, where she won in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, both in Romanian records. She also w ...

, who later dominated the backstroke double at these Games. Racing against some of the toughest swimmers in her heat, Choi struggled to keep up her pace on the outside lane, and eventually rounded out the field to last place in a time of 2:26.42, the slowest of the event's heats. Choi failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed thirty-fifth overall in the prelims.

References

1981 births Living people South Korean female backstroke swimmers Olympic swimmers of South Korea Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in swimming Swimmers from Seoul Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Swimmers at the 1998 Asian Games 20th-century South Korean women 21st-century South Korean women {{SouthKorea-swimming-bio-stub