Heo Mi-mi (22), who gave up her Japanese nationality and wore the national flag, won the gold medal at the International Judo Federation (IJF) World Championships for the first time in 29 years as a Korean female athlete.
Korea’s world No. 6 Heo Mi-mi beat world No. 1 Krista Deguchi (29) of Canada to become world champion at the final of the competition held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Sunday. The two skaters were able to secure a match for a total of 12 minutes and 18 seconds, which was more than three times the regular match time (four minutes). Then, as Deguchi was coached for the third time, Heo Mi-mi won the match by foul play. 안전놀이터
It is the first time in six years that a Korean judoka has won a gold medal at the World Championships in both men’s and women’s events since the 2018 Baku Championships. Back then, Ahn Chang-rim (73 kg) and Cho Go-ham (100 kg) won the gold medal in men’s events. The fact that a Korean female skater won the World Championships dates back to 1995 when Jeong Seong-sook (61 kg) and Cho Min-sun (66 kg) when they competed at the Chiba Championships, before Heo Mi-mi was born.
Born in Tokyo in 2002, Hur was a dual citizen whose father was Korean and her mother was Japanese. Hur, who first wore a robe at age 6 following her father who was an judoka, won the Japanese national middle school judo championship in 2017 and the Korean national youth judo championship in 2019.
Her grandmother, who passed away that year, made her choice to have Korean nationality in 2021. Her grandmother, who was an executive of the Korean People’s Corps in Japan, left a will, saying, “I hope that she can represent the Korean national team and compete in the Olympics.” Her mother, who aimed to become a national flag according to her will, found out that she was the fifth generation grandson of Heo Seok (1857-1920) while joining the Gyeongbuk Provincial Sports Council. Heo Seok, an independence activist who was active in North Gyeongsang Province, was awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1991. Heo, who is a student at Waseda University in Japan, usually lives in Japan but moves to Korea whenever there is an international competition, and lives in Jincheon National Training Center.
“I can’t believe I won the World Championship. I’m so happy that I performed judo as I prepared and got good results. I gained a lot of confidence by beating Deguchi, who I had never won before,” said Heo. Deguchi, the 2019 and 2023 World Championship winner, also said, “My father is Canadian but my mother is Japanese and was born and raised in Japan.
“I will do my best to win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics,” Hur said. Cho Min-sun was the last Korean female judoka to win a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.