The year she turned 17, in 2019, she entered the Korean national team trials in Suncheon, South Jeolla, as a Korean resident of Japan, but lost in the semifinal. In 2021, she enrolled at Waseda University and joined the Gyeongbuk Sports Council judo team.
The year she turned 20, in June, she won her first senior international tournament, the Grand Slam in Tbilisi, Georgia, beating a Rio Olympic champion along the way. In October, she won again at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, beating a Tokyo Olympic champion. In November she won the national team trials, and it became known that she is a descendant of the independence activist Huh Seok and chose Korea following her grandmother’s dying wish. In December, she won bronze at the IJF Masters. In 2023, she won gold at the Chengdu Universiade, but at the Hangzhou Asian Games mixed team event in September, Korea lost to Japan and then Mongolia and missed a medal. In November she won the Perth Oceania Open, her third international gold of the season.
The breakthrough yearThe year she turned 22, in January, she won the Portugal Grand Prix for a second straight year, and in April she won silver at the Asian Championships. In May she beat world No. 1 Christa Deguchi at the world championships in Abu Dhabi, the first world championship gold for a Korean woman in 29 years. On July 29, she lost the women’s 57 kg final at the Paris Olympics to Deguchi on penalties and took silver. It was the first Olympic silver for Korean women’s judo in eight years, and after these Games she became a star the public recognizes. Five days later, she added a bronze in the mixed team event by beating Germany in extra time. She appeared on You Quiz on the Block and Omniscient Interfering View, and in October won the 63 kg gold at the National Sports Festival. In November she had ligament surgery on her left shoulder.
In June 2025, in her first competition since surgery, she lost in round 2 at the World Championships, but in July she won gold again at the Rhine-Ruhr Universiade in Germany. Korean women’s judo had its best result ever at the Games. In September 2026, ahead of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, she signed a management contract with Brion Company, and on October 1 she won gold in the women’s 57 kg.
Huh Mi-mi (born Dec 19, 2002) won gold at the IJF Tbilisi Grand Slam, her first senior international tournament, in 2022, the year she turned 20, and became known when she won silver in the women’s 57 kg judo at the Paris Olympics on Jul 29, 2024, the year she turned 22. Two months earlier, in May 2024, she won the world championships, the first world championship gold for a Korean woman in 29 years.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.