Randi Heesoo Griffin (; born September 2, 1988) is an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player who competed in the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

as part of the Unified Korea women's national team, scoring its first goal on February 14. In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.

Background

Griffin was born in the United States to Tom and Liz Griffin. Her mother, Liz, is Korean. Griffin is a native of

Apex, North Carolina Apex () is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, United States. At its southern border, Apex encompasses the community of Friendship. In 1994, the downtown area was designated a historic district, and the Apex train depot, built in 1867, is de ...

. Griffin aspired to compete at the Winter Olympics after she watched women's hockey make a debut at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

in Nagano, Japan. Her parents decided to let her play ice hockey in

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, Wake, Chatham County, North Carolina, Chatham, and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh-Cary, NC M ...

and bought her first set of hockey gear.

Playing career

NCAA

She attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and played for the university's women's hockey team. She is a

letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech or none in the case of a silent letter; any of the symbols of an alphabet * Letterform, the g ...

winner from 2006 to 2010. Griffin played in 125 career games for Harvard and scored 21 goals and made 18 assists for 39 points. After graduating from Harvard, she became a youth ice hockey coach mentoring boys and girls ages 12 to 19. In 2013, she began pursuing a PhD degree in

evolutionary anthropology Evolutionary anthropology, the interdisciplinary study of the human evolution, evolution of human physiology and human behaviour and of the relation between hominids and non-hominid primates, builds on natural science and on social science. Vari ...

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Korean national team

She was contacted by the

Korea Ice Hockey Association The Korea Ice Hockey Association () is the Sport governing body, governing body and member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) that oversees ice hockey in South Korea. The Korean Ice Hockey Association was able to compete in the O ...

in 2014. The association was looking for players with Korean heritage who could represent South Korea in the

. She played in exhibition games against Kazakhstan for South Korea in 2015. In the Olympic tournament, Griffin scored the first of two goals in the entire tournament by the unified Korean team, in the 4–1 defeat to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

at the group stage (the other being scored by Han Soo-jin in the seventh place match against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Professional

On July 11, 2018 Griffin signed her first professional contract, agreeing to join the NWHL's Connecticut Whale.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Randi 1988 births Living people 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century South Korean sportswomen American people of South Korean descent American sportspeople of Korean descent American women's ice hockey forwards Connecticut Whale (PHF) players Duke University alumni Harvard University alumni Ice hockey people from North Carolina Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics People from Apex, North Carolina South Korean people of American descent South Korean women's ice hockey forwards Sportspeople from Wake County, North Carolina Winter Olympics competitors for Korea Harvard Crimson women's ice hockey players