The breakthrough yearThe year she turned 18, as a third-year student at Seoul Sports High School, she beat Kim Yeon-ji, a two-time World Championships winner, in the Athens Olympic trials and became the first high school student on a Korean taekwondo Olympic team. That August she won bronze in the women’s 67 kg at the Olympics.
In 2005, she won gold at the World Championships in Madrid, Spain. In 2006, she won gold in the women’s welterweight at the Doha Asian Games. In 2007, she won a second straight World Championships title in Beijing.
The year she turned 22, she became the first Korean taekwondo athlete to compete in two straight Olympics and won gold in the women’s 67 kg at the Beijing Olympics. That October she decided to join Goyang City Hall.
In 2011, she took bronze at the World Championships in Gyeongju. In 2012, she was confirmed as the first Korean taekwondo athlete to compete in three straight Olympics, and at the London Olympics she became the first in Korean taekwondo to win two straight Olympic titles.
In 2016, she was an MBC taekwondo commentator at the Rio Olympics. In 2017, she joined the national team at the Muju World Championships as a training partner. In November 2018, she held her retirement ceremony in Cheorwon.
In 2021, she was appointed to the World Taekwondo rules improvement committee. In 2023, she received World Taekwondo’s award for the most valuable Olympic athlete and took part in a virtual taekwondo event in Singapore. In September she was at the Hangzhou Asian Games as a national team coach.
In 2024, she cheered on the younger athletes heading to the Paris Olympics. In 2026, she became a taekwondo sparring commentator for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Hwang Kyung-seon (born 1986) became known on May 25, 2004, the year she turned 18, when she made the Athens Olympic team and became the first high school student on a Korean taekwondo Olympic team. She won Olympic gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the year she turned 22, and at the 2012 London Olympics, the year she turned 26.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.