Lee Na-lae

Lee Na-lae (also Lee Na-rae, Korean: 이 나래; born January 1, 1979 in Incheon) is a retired amateur South Korean freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's lightweight category.[1] She produced a remarkable tally of five career medals, including a silver in the 55-kg division at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, and then finished seventh at the 2004 Summer Olympics, representing her nation South Korea. Lee also trained throughout her sporting career as a member of Incheon City Hall's wrestling club, under her personal coach Ahn Seung-mun.

Lee Na-lae
Personal information
Full nameLee Na-lae
Nationality South Korea
Born (1979-01-01) 1 January 1979
Incheon, South Korea
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight55 kg (121 lb)
Sport
SportWrestling
StyleFreestyle
ClubIncheon City Hall
CoachAhn Seung-mun
Medal record
Women's freestyle wrestling
Representing  South Korea
Asian Games
2002 Busan55 kg
Asian Championships
2004 Tokyo55 kg
1999 Tashkent56 kg
2003 Delhi55 kg
2005 Wuhan55 kg
In this Korean name, the family name is Lee.

Lee highlighted her wrestling career when South Korea hosted the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. She picked up a silver medal in the inaugural women's 55 kg class, losing to her Japanese rival Saori Yoshida on technical superiority. She also boasted a bronze at the 2003 Asian Wrestling Championships in Delhi, India, but ended the same fate with another silver in a rematch against Yoshida by the following year, repeating their final in the process from the Asian Games.[2][3]

When women's wrestling made its debut at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Lee qualified for her South Korean squad in the 55 kg class. Earlier in the process, she captured a gold medal over Italy's Diletta Giampiccolo from the inaugural Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tunis, Tunisia, and placed second behind Yoshida at the Asian Championships in Tokyo, Japan to guarantee her spot on South Korea's Olympic wrestling team.[4] In the prelim pool, Lee lost her opening match 2–5 to France's Anna Gomis, but rallied her campaign to pin and upset Greece's Sofia Poumpouridou in front of the home crowd inside Ano Liossia Olympic Hall. Despite missing a spot for the semifinals, Lee seized her opportunity to determine a fifth spot against China's Sun Dongmei, but fell short in their classification match with a close 3–4 decision. Lee initially placed eighth in the final standings, but later upgraded to seventh, as Puerto Rico's Mabel Fonseca was disqualified from the tournament after being tested positive for stanozolol.[5]

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Lee Na-lae". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  2. Patil, Kirti (7 June 2003). "Indian grapplers up their performance". The Hindu. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  3. "Japanese women dominate Asian Wrestling C'ships". Daily Times (Pakistan). 24 May 2004. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  4. Abbott, Gary (17 July 2004). "Olympic Games preview at 55 kg/121 lbs. in women's freestyle". USA Wrestling. The Mat. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  5. "Wrestling: Women's Freestyle 55kg". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 30 September 2013.


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