19 Facts About Chang Hye-jin

Chang Hye-jin is a former number one-ranked recurve archer, having headed the World Archery Rankings between 2017 and 2019.

Chang Hye-jin was additionally the women's individual runner-up at the 2017 World Championships.

Chang Hye-jin was born on 13 May 1987 in the city of Daegu.

Chang Hye-jin was first introduced to archery at the age of eleven and participated in her first national tournament two years later.

Chang Hye-jin won her first tournament during her second year of high school in Daegu, and after studying at Daegu's Keimyung University, joined the Seoul-based LH team to shoot professionally.

Chang Hye-jin made her international debut in 2008 at the World University Games held in Chinese Taipei.

Chang Hye-jin made her debut at the biennial World Archery Championships in 2013, winning the women's team recurve title with Ki Bo-bae and Yun Ok-hee after defeating Belarus in a low-scoring final.

In Rio de Janeiro Chang Hye-jin concluded the preliminary 72-arrow ranking round in second position with a score of 666 points from a maximum of 720.

Chang Hye-jin defeated Unruh by six set points to two, winning her a second Olympic gold medal and becoming the eighth South Korean to be crowned as the women's Olympic individual archery champion.

Chang Hye-jin's victory marked South Korea's twenty-second Olympic gold medal in archery, surpassing short track speed skating as the nation's most successful Olympic sport.

Chang Hye-jin's achievements earned her the accolade of top female athlete at the 2016 Korea Woman Sports Awards.

Chang Hye-jin became the world's top female recurve archer in June 2017.

In October Chang Hye-jin partnered Choi Mi-sun and Kang Chae-young at the 2017 World Championships, helping secure South Korea's thirteenth World Championship gold medal in the women's team event after defeating host nation Mexico in the final.

Chang Hye-jin later finished as the runner-up in the women's individual event after losing to the Russian world number three Ksenia Perova in the gold medal match.

Chang Hye-jin began 2018 strongly with victory in the first stage of the Archery World Cup in April, dropping just two points in the final against China's An Qixuan.

Chang Hye-jin's win was notable for her precise shooting in the match's second set, where from a distance of 70 metres she placed her three arrows within three centimetres of one another inside the target's innermost ring, a feat lauded as one of the finest achievements recorded in a modern recurve competition.

Chang Hye-jin progressed to the final of the World Cup's second stage held one month later, where she was again defeated by Ksenia Perova.

In 2019 Chang Hye-jin partnered Choi Mi-sun and Kang Chae-young at the World Championships in June, achieving a silver medal in the women's team event after the trio lost to Taiwan in the final.

Chang Hye-jin was however afforded a second opportunity to qualify after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the Olympics until the following year.