View source for Lee Sang-hwa

{{About|the female speed skater|the poet during the 1920s–1940s|Yi Sang-hwa}}
{{Korean name|[[Lee (Korean name)|Lee]]}}
{{Infobox speed skater
| name = Lee Sang-hwa
| image = Korea Lee Sanghwa Gold Medal Ceremony 02.jpg
| caption = 
| headercolor = #d7ecff
| country = {{KOR}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1989|2|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = 
| height= 1.65 m
| weight = 62 kg
| team = [[Seoul Metropolitan Government]]
| show-medals = no
| medaltemplates = 
{{Medal|Competition|[[Speed skating at the Winter Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[2010 Winter Olympics|2010 Vancouver]]|[[Speed skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres|500 m]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[2014 Winter Olympics|2014 Sochi]]|[[Speed skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres|500 m]]}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[World Sprint Speed Skating Championships|World Sprint Championships]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[2010 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships|2010 Obihiro]]|Women}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[2013 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships|2013 Salt Lake City]]|Women}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[World Single Distance Championships for Women|World Single Distance Championships]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[2012 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships|2012 Heerenveen]]|[[2012 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships – Women's 500 metres|500 m]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[2013 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships|2013 Sochi]]|[[2013 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships – Women's 500 metres|500 m]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[2016 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships|2016 Kolomna]]|[[2016 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships – Women's 500 metres|500 m]]}}
{{Medal|Silver|[[2011 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships|2011 Inzell]]|[[2011 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships – Women's 500 metres|500 m]]}}
{{Medal|Silver|[[2017 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships|2017 Gangneung]]|[[2017 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships – Women's 500 metres|500 m]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[2005 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships|2005 Inzell]]|500 m}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[2009 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships|2009 Vancouver]]|500 m}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[World Junior Speed Skating Championships|World Junior Championships]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|2005 Seinäjoki|All Around}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Speed skating at the Winter Universiade|Winter Universiade]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[2007 Winter Universiade|2007 Torino]]|500 m}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[2009 Winter Universiade|2009 Harbin]]|500 m}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[2009 Winter Universiade|2009 Harbin]]|100 m}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Speed skating at the Asian Winter Games|Asian Winter Games]]}}
{{Medal|Silver|[[2007 Asian Winter Games|2007 Changchun]]|[[Speed skating at the 2007 Asian Winter Games|500 m]]}}
{{Medal|Silver|[[2011 Asian Winter Games|2011 Astana-Almaty]]|[[Speed skating at the 2011 Asian Winter Games|500 m]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[2007 Asian Winter Games|2007 Changchun]]|[[Speed skating at the 2007 Asian Winter Games|100 m]]}}
}}
'''Lee Sang-hwa''' ([[Korean language|Korean]]: 이상화, [[Hanja]]: 李相花, {{IPA-ko|i.saŋ.ɦwa}}; born 25 February 1989) is a South Korean [[Speed skating|speed skater]] who specialises in the sprint distances. She is a two-time Olympic champion in 500 metres (2010 and 2014) and the 2010 World Sprint champion. She is the current world record holder in women's 500 metres with the time of 36.36 seconds set in Salt Lake City on 16 November 2013,<ref name=wr>{{cite web|url = http://www.speedskatingresults.com/index.php?p=9|title = World Records|publisher = www.speedskatingresults.com|accessdate = 26 December 2013}}</ref> and also holds the South Korean record on 1000 metres.<ref name=nr>{{cite web|url = http://www.speedskatingresults.com/index.php?p=11|title = National Records – Korea (KOR)|publisher = www.speedskatingresults.com|accessdate = 26 December 2013}}</ref> She has also won three [[World Single Distance Championships|World Championships]] medals in 500 metres, and has placed in the top three in World Cup events four times in this distance. Her first World Cup victory, however, came on the non-Olympic distance 100 metres. On the 1000 metres, however, she has never placed higher than fifth in international events (2010 World Sprint Championships, first 1000 metres).

==Early life and education==
Lee Sang-hwa was born in 1989 to Lee U-geun (father), a technician at Hwigyeong Girls' School, and Kim In-sun (mother). Lee has an older brother, Lee Sang-jun, who used to be a skater, too. Influenced by her brother, she started skating when she was in first grade at Eunseok Elementary School. Although her brother excelled at skating, and won a skating competition held in his elementary school, Lee appeared to have more talent for skating than him. Since their parents could not afford to support the extra activity of both children, only she continued skating.<ref>http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/02/18/2010021800086.html</ref><ref>http://www.bulkyo21.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=9600</ref>

Lee is remembered by her school teachers as a smart and active student.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} Lee and [[Mo Tae-bum]], gold medalist at [[2010 Winter Olympics|Vancouver 2010]], are close friends since their elementary school period. Along with him, Lee is currently attending [[Korea National Sport University]].<ref>http://www.sportsseoul.com/news2/sports/sports/2010/0217/20100217101030500000000_7972157519.html</ref><ref>http://www.koreatimes.com/article/578068</ref>

==Career==
{{BLP sources section|date=December 2013}}
Lee first competed internationally aged 14 in Canada, where she skated several test races in October 2003, winning comfortably and skating with a best time of 39.02 seconds. At the time, the U19 world record was 38.53. Her first [[International Skating Union|ISU]] championship was in [[Roseville, Minnesota]], during the 2004 [[World Junior Speed Skating Championships|World Junior Championships]]. As the youngest participant, she finished 16th, though she took third place on the 500 metres, 0.45 seconds behind world junior record holder [[Shannon Rempel]].

The following season, she raced 38.77 in test races in Calgary, and was selected for the [[Speed Skating World Cup|World Cup]] races in [[Nagano]], [[Harbin]] and [[Calgary]]. She placed eighth in her first race, recording 38.71 in the [[M-Wave]], Nagano, 0.29 seconds behind winner [[Wang Manli]]. She finished in the top ten a further five times that season, including two fourth-place finishes in 100 metre sprints, which gave her fifth place overall in the 100 metre World Cup. In other achievements, she won two senior Korean titles (on 2 × 500 metres and sprint), and came 14th in the 500 metres World Cup standings, 16th in the 1000 metres, and 15th in the [[samalog]] standings in the [[World Sprint Speed Skating Championships for Women|World Sprint Championships]], though she was within half a second of the winner on both 500 metre races, finishing 9th and 12th.

In the World Championships, Lee won three medals that season; two in the junior championships, where she won bronze in the overall standings, though she was four points after the winner after 16th place on the 1500 and 19th on the 3000 metre event, and silver with the Korean team in the [[long track speed skating#Team pursuit|team pursuit]] event. And during the World Single Distance Championships in Inzell in March, two fourth-places were enough to take her to third place overall in the 500 metre competition, behind Chinese skaters [[Wang Manli]] and [[Wang Beixing]].

In 2006, Lee improved on the 100 and 500 metres, though she fell into the B division on the 1000 metres. She finished on the World Cup podium four times during the season, including a win in the 100 metre World Cup final, though she finished behind [[Jenny Wolf]] in the overall standings. On the 500 metres, she was sixth in the World Cup. She also added three senior Korean titles to her record, winning the 500 metres, 1000 metres, and overall sprint championship. During the season, she registered a world junior record on the 500 metres, with a time of 37.90 in [[Utah Olympic Oval]]. She failed to improve on her 1000-metre time from last season, however.

The [[Speed skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics|Turin Olympics]] ended with fifth place for Lee, despite her third-best second run which wasn't enough to lift her up more than one place. Earlier, she had finished 19th on the 1000 metres and 12th in the World Sprint Championships.

The [[2007 in speed skating|2007 season]] has seen further improvement for Lee. She is yet to finish outside the top two, and after three of 12 races she heads the overall standings on the 500 metres. She has also improved on the 1000 metres, and became 11th in the overall standings, with eighth place in Heerenveen as the best result.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics she won the gold medal in the 500 metres event.

On 9 November 2013, she broke the [[world record progression 500 m speed skating women|world record on 500 metres]] in the [[2013–14 ISU Speed Skating World Cup – World Cup 1|2013–14 World Cup event]] in Calgary, Canada, with a time of 36.74 seconds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.isu.org/vsite/vnavsite/page/directory/0,10853,4844-205151-222374-nav-list,00.html?id=1438 |title=Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR) sets world record in 500m |publisher=International Skating Union |date=9 November 2013 |accessdate=14 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Lee Sang-hwa breaks world record|url=http://espn.go.com/olympics/speedskating/story/_/id/9952641/lee-sang-hwa-breaks-own-speedskating-world-record-500m|accessdate=10 November 2013|newspaper=ESPN|date=9 November 2013 <!-- , 8:03 PM ET --> }}</ref> On 15 November, in the [[2013–14 ISU Speed Skating World Cup – World Cup 2|2013–14 World Cup event]] in Salt Lake City, United States, she improved the record a further 17/100, to 36.57 seconds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.isu.org/vsite/vnavsite/page/directory/0,10853,4844-205151-222374-nav-list,00.html?id=1455 |title=Antoinette de Jong (NED) sets sub-four-minute Junior 3000m record |publisher=International Skating Union |date=15 November 2013 |accessdate=28 November 2013}}</ref> The next day, she improved it another 21/100, to 36.36 seconds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.isu.org/vsite/vnavsite/page/directory/0,10853,4844-205151-222374-nav-list,00.html?id=1459 |title=Dutch set new Men's Team Pursuit world record |publisher=International Skating Union |date=16 November 2013 |accessdate=28 November 2013}}</ref>

On 11 February 2014, she won the gold medal for the women's 500m longtrack speedskating race at the [[2014 Sochi Winter Olympics]], having previously won the one at the 2010 Games. She became the first woman since [[Catriona Le May Doan]] at the 2002 Games to defend her gold at the event. She became the third woman to win back-to-back golds at the 500m,<ref>{{cite news |url= http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2014/02/11/heather-richardson-falls-short-of-medal-lee-sang-hwa-wins-500m-gold/ |title= Heather Richardson falls short of medal, Lee Sang-hwa wins 500m gold |author= James O'Brien |date= 2014-02-11 |publisher= NBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/yonhap-news-agency/140211/olympics-speed-skater-lee-sang-hwa-poised-gold-womens-500-me |title= (Olympics) Speed skater Lee Sang-hwa poised for gold in women's 500 meters |author= Yonhap News Agency |publisher= GlobalPost |date= 2014-02-11}}</ref> hence the first Korean woman to do so.

===Personal records===
{{PersonalRecordsTop|ref=<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.speedskatingresults.com/index.php?p=17&s=1195|title = Sang-Hwa Lee|publisher = www.speedskatingresults.com|accessdate = 26 December 2013}}</ref>}}
{{PersonalRecordsSport|Women's speed skating}}
{{PersonalRecordsMiddle|500 m|36.36|16 November 2013|[[Utah Olympic Oval]], Salt Lake City|Current [[World record progression 500 m speed skating women|world record]]<ref name=wr/>}}
{{PersonalRecordsMiddle|1000 m|1:13.66|21 September 2013|[[Olympic Oval]], Calgary|Current South Korean record<ref name=nr/>}}
{{PersonalRecordsMiddle|1500 m|2:00.66|7 September 2013|Olympic Oval, Calgary|}}
{{PersonalRecordsMiddle|3000 m|4:23.60|27 October 2002|Olympic Oval, Calgary|}}
{{PersonalRecordsBottom}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Lee Sang-hwa}}
*[http://twitter.com/speed_sanghwa Twitter]
*[http://speedskatingresults.com./index.php?p=17&s=1195 speedskatingresults.com]
*[http://www.schaatsstatistieken.nl/index.php?file=schaatser&code=1989022501 SchaatsStatistieken.nl]

{{s-start}}
{{S-ach|rec}}
{{Succession box|title=Girls' sprint combination speed skating world record|before={{flagicon|CAN}} [[Shannon Rempel]]|after={{flagicon|CZE}} [[Karolína Erbanová]]|years=23 January 2005 – 29 January 2012}}
{{Succession box|title=Girls' 500 m speed skating world record|before={{flagicon|JPN}} [[Sayuri Yoshii]]|after=''Current holder''|years=18 November 2005 – present}}
{{Succession box|title=[[World record progression 500 m speed skating women|Women's 500 m speed skating world record]]|before={{flagicon|CHN}} [[Yu Jing]]|after=''Current holder''|years=20 January 2013 – present}}
{{s-end}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions 500m Speed Skating Women}}
{{Footer World Single Distance Champions 500m Speed Skating Women}}
{{Footer World Sprint champions Speed Skating Women}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Sang-hwa}}
[[Category:1989 births]]
[[Category:South Korean female speed skaters]]
[[Category:Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics]]
[[Category:Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics]]
[[Category:Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic speed skaters of South Korea]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in speed skating]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for South Korea]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Running Man (TV series) contestants]]
[[Category:Asian Games medalists in speed skating]]
[[Category:Speed skaters at the 2007 Asian Winter Games]]
[[Category:Speed skaters at the 2011 Asian Winter Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 2007 Winter Universiade]]
[[Category:Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea]]
[[Category:Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 2007 Asian Winter Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 2011 Asian Winter Games]]