1. Son Yeon-jae is a former member of the South Korean national gymnastics team, based in Taereung, Seoul.
39 Facts About Son Yeon-jae
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Son Yeon-jae is the 2014 Asian Games All-around Champion, the 2010 Asian Games All-around bronze medalist, three-time Asian Championships All-around Champion.
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Son Yeon-jae is the first and only South Korean individual rhythmic gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships, FIG World Cup series, Universiade and the Asian Games.
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Son Yeon-jae is a recipient of the Talent Medal of Korea in 2011.
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Son Yeon-jae became a star in Korea, similarly as Olympic champion Kim Yuna, after grabbing a medal in individual all-around at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, becoming the first South Korean rhythmic gymnast to do so.
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Son Yeon-jae finished second to last in the individual all-around at the World Cup Series, Category A in Sofia, Bulgaria.
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Son Yeon-jae placed 5th overall at the Finals with a score of 111.475 points.
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Son Yeon-jae became the first Korean Rhythmic Gymnast to qualify and reach the All-around Finals at the Olympics.
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In 2013, Son Yeon-jae started her season competing at the 2013 Moscow Grand Prix where she won bronze in clubs, she competed at the 2013 Lisboa World Cup where she finished 9th in all-around and won bronze in ribbon.
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On 30 April 2013, Son Yeon-jae got a silver medal in the ribbon finals at the 2013 Pesaro World Cup, it was the first time a Korean athlete won a silver medal at any discipline of a rhythmic gymnastic World Cup.
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Son Yeon-jae finished 4th in all-around at the 2013 Sofia World Cup and shared the bronze medal in hoop with Ukrainian Ganna Rizatdinova.
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Son Yeon-jae then competed at the 2013 Minsk World Cup where she finished 4th in all-around, at the event finals, she took the silver medals in hoop and in clubs who was tied with Russian rising star Yana Kudryavtseva, she finished 4th in ribbon and 7th in ball.
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Son Yeon-jae competed at the 2013 Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan where she became the first Korean rhythmic gymnast to win gold in the all-around, she helped Team Korea win the silver medal.
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At the finals, Son Yeon-jae won gold in hoop and clubs, she won silver in ribbon behind China's Deng Senyue and finished 4th in ball.
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Son Yeon-jae competed at the 2013 Summer Universiade where she finished 6th in all-around, she qualified to 3 event finals where she won silver in ball, placed 5th in clubs and 7th in ribbon.
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At the 2013 World Cup series in StPetersburg, Russia, Son Yeon-jae finished 4th in all-around and in the event finals won silver in hoop, bronze in ribbon, placed 4th in clubs and ball.
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Son Yeon-jae finished 5th in the All-around at the 2013 World Championships again behind Chinese rival Deng Senyue who finished 4th.
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In 2014, Son Yeon-jae began her season competing at the 2014 Moscow Grand Prix finishing 6th in the all-around, at the event finals she won bronze medals in ribbon, clubs and hoop.
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Son Yeon-jae then competed at the 2014 Stuttgart World Cup finishing 7th in All-around, she qualified to 3 event finals: she took silver in ribbon, placed 8th in ball and 5th in hoop.
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Son Yeon-jae won her first gold medal in the World Cup at the 2014 Lisbon World Cup becoming the first Asian and Korean rhythmic gymnast to win and medal in the All-around.
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Son Yeon-jae scored a total of 71.200 points ahead of Melitina Staniouta and World Cup debutante Dina Averina.
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Son Yeon-jae followed with her next event at the 2014 Pesaro World Cup, where Son finished 5th in all-around and won silver in clubs and bronze in ball final.
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Son Yeon-jae then flew to her home country in Incheon, Korea for the 2014 Asian Games where she won the gold medal becoming the first Korean to win rhythmic gymnastics in the Asian Games.
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Son Yeon-jae was named the best athlete of the year 42 percent of the votes ahead of Kim Yuna with 33.3 percent votes and was awarded the MBN Women Sports Award 2014 in Seoul.
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In 2015, Son Yeon-jae withdrew from her first scheduled event at the 2015 Moscow Grand Prix citing illness.
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Son Yeon-jae then competed at the 2015 Bucharest World Cup finishing 4th in all-around, she withdrew from the apparatus finals after suffering an ankle injury.
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At the 2015 World Cup series, Son Yeon-jae finished 5th in the all-around behind Staniouta.
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Son Yeon-jae finished 11th overall with a total of 69.998 points, behind Bulgarian Neviana Vladinova.
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In 2016, Son Yeon-jae started her season participating at the 2016 Moscow Grand Prix finishing 2nd in the all-around behind Aleksandra Soldatova.
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Nevertheless, before the end of the year; Son Yeon-jae was voted as the top South Korean athlete of 2016, a national survey conducted by Gallup Korea, Son Yeon-jae had received 29.8 percent of the votes.
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Son Yeon-jae is the second cousin of Korean figure skater Yun Yea-ji.
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On 7 April 2022, it was confirmed that Son Yeon-jae was in a relationship with a businessman, who is 9 years her senior.
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Later in May 2022, Son Yeon-jae announced that she would marry in August 2022.
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Son Yeon-jae donated 50 million won for her wedding gift to Severance Children's Hospital.
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On 20 February 2024, her agency confirmed that Son Yeon-jae recently gave birth to her first child, a son.
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Son Yeon-jae has some advertisements such as LG, Pantene, Mr Pizza and Fila.
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Son Yeon-jae appeared on two episodes 109 and 110 of SBS's variety show "Running Man" hosted by the "Nation's MC" Yoo Jae-suk together with swimmer Park Tae-hwan.
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Son Yeon-jae has since appeared in episode 130 of KBS 2TV's variety show "Win Win", sharing about her hardships and struggles while training for competitions.
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Son Yeon-jae participated in episode 296 and episode 350 of MBC's variety show "Infinity Challenge", hosted by MC Yoo Jae-suk.