BADMINTON PLAYERS from South Korea

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary South Korean Badminton Players of all time. This list of famous South Korean Badminton Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of South Korean Badminton Players.

1. Park Joo-bong (1964 - )

With an HPI of 40.20, Park Joo-bong is the most famous South Korean Badminton Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages on wikipedia.

Park Joo-bong (Korean: 박주봉; Hanja: 朴柱奉; born 5 December 1964) is a former badminton player from South Korea who excelled from the early 1980s through the mid-1990s.

2. Lee Yong-dae (1988 - )

With an HPI of 35.23, Lee Yong-dae is the 2nd most famous South Korean Badminton Player.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Lee Yong-dae (Korean: 이용대; Hanja: 李龍大; Korean pronunciation: [i.joŋ.dɛ̝]; born 11 September 1988) is a professional badminton player from South Korea who had been successful in both men's and mixed doubles. He reached world number 1 ranking with 4 different partners, Jung Jae-sung, Ko Sung-hyun and Yoo Yeon-seong in men's doubles, and Lee Hyo-jung in mixed doubles. He won a total of 43 Superseries titles, 37 in the men's doubles, the most of any doubles player in one discipline, and 6 in mixed doubles. He was ranked world number 1 in men's doubles for 117 consecutive weeks with his last partner, Yoo Yeon-seong. After winning the 2016 Korean Superseries with Yoo, Lee announced his retirement from international badminton. He made a comeback to the international stage at the end of 2017, and started a new partnership with Kim Gi-jung in 2018.

3. Bang Soo-hyun (1972 - )

With an HPI of 34.86, Bang Soo-hyun is the 3rd most famous South Korean Badminton Player.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Bang Soo-hyun (Korean: 방수현; Hanja: 方銖賢; born 13 September 1972) is a former badminton player from South Korea who was one of the world's leading women's singles players of the 1990s. She was a contemporary and rival of Indonesia's Susi Susanti and China's Ye Zhaoying. Noted for a style that combined impressive power and movement, she retired from competition after her victory in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, shortly before her 24th birthday. She was elected to the World Badminton Hall of Fame in 2019.

4. Ha Tae-kwon (1975 - )

With an HPI of 29.55, Ha Tae-kwon is the 4th most famous South Korean Badminton Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Ha Tae-kwon (Korean: 하태권; Hanja: 河泰權; born 30 April 1975) is a badminton player from South Korea. Born in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, Ha started his career in badminton with the recommendation of Kim Dong-moon in elementary school. He made his international debut in 1992, and won his first Grand Prix title at the 1995 Canada Open. Ha three times competed in Olympic Games in 1996, 2000 and 2004, won a bronze medal in 2000 and a gold medal in 2004.

5. Jung Jae-sung (1982 - 2018)

With an HPI of 28.94, Jung Jae-sung is the 5th most famous South Korean Badminton Player.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Jung Jae-sung (also spelled Chung Jae-sung; Korean: 정재성; Hanja: 鄭在成; Korean pronunciation: [tɕʌŋ.dʑɛ̝.sʌŋ]; 25 August 1982 – 9 March 2018) was a South Korean professional badminton player who specialized in men's doubles. Together with his partner Lee Yong-dae, Jung spent forty weeks as World No. 1 in the men's doubles discipline between 2009 and 2012, winning eighteen BWF World Superseries tournaments and placing second at the BWF World Championships on two occasions in 2007 and 2009. He was a two-time winner of the All-England Open, gold medalist at the 2008 Badminton Asian Championships, and won the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in the final tournament of his professional career.

6. Kim Dong-moon (1975 - )

With an HPI of 27.24, Kim Dong-moon is the 6th most famous South Korean Badminton Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Kim Dong-moon (Korean: 김동문; Hanja: 金東文; born 22 September 1975) is a retired South Korean badminton player who won major titles between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s (decade), and widely regarded as one of finest men's doubles and mixed doubles players in badminton history. Kim captured the world attention when he unexpectedly winning the gold medal in the mixed doubles event with Gil Young-ah at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. On his path to greatness, he won gold medals both in men's and mixed doubles at the 1999 World Championships. Kim and Ra Kyung-min, partnered up to become one of the strongest mixed doubles pairings of that time. They did not drop a single match from April to November in 2003. They won 10 straight victorious tournaments: 9 consecutive Grand Prix events and one World Championship title. Their excellent results in 2003 earned Kim and Ra the Eddie Choong Player of the Year award. He captured this award previously by himself in 2002. Despite their domination, the golden couple crashed in the second round against the Danish partnership of Jonas Rasmussen and Rikke Olsen at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kim however redeemed himself with a gold medal in men's doubles with Ha Tae-kwon. After the 2004 Olympics, Kim retired from playing and married his former mixed doubles partner, Ra in 2005. Kim is currently the only South Korean player to have ever won Olympic gold in both the men's and mixed doubles events. He was inducted into the BWF Hall of Fame in 2009.

7. Lee Hyo-jung (1981 - )

With an HPI of 24.13, Lee Hyo-jung is the 7th most famous South Korean Badminton Player.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Lee Hyo-jung (Korean: 이효정; Hanja: 李孝貞; Korean pronunciation: [i.ɦjo.dʑʌŋ]; born 13 January 1981) is a South Korean former badminton player. She won the gold medal in badminton mixed doubles at the 2008 Summer Olympics with her partner, Lee Yong-dae. Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Yong-dae were unseeded, and in the finals they beat the top seeds and 2005 and 2007 world champions Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto of Indonesia, 21-11, 21-17. Lee Hyo-jung also won the silver medal in badminton women's doubles at the aforementioned Olympics with Lee Kyung-won; they were seeded fourth and lost to the second-seeded Chinese pair, Du Jing and Yu Yang. Lee became the first woman in Korean history to win gold medals at both the Olympics and the Asian Games. In the 2010 Asian Games, she partnered with Shin Baek-cheol instead of her usual partner, Lee Yong-dae. After winning the medal, she announced her retirement despite many pleas from her coaches and fans at home to continue playing until the London Olympics in 2012.

8. Lee Kyung-won (1980 - )

With an HPI of 22.81, Lee Kyung-won is the 8th most famous South Korean Badminton Player.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Lee Kyung-won (Korean: 이경원; Hanja: 李敬元; Korean pronunciation: [i.ɡjʌŋ.wʌn]; born 21 January 1980 in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province) is a badminton player from South Korea. Lee was the women's doubles gold medallist at the 2002 Asian Games. She competed at the Olympic Games in 2000, 2004, and 2008, winning women's doubles bronze in 2004, and silver in 2008. She captured the women's doubles gold at the Asian Championships in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Lee educated at the Sungji Girls' Middle School, Sungji Girls' High School, and graduated from the Yong In University.

9. Shin Seung-chan (1994 - )

With an HPI of 21.90, Shin Seung-chan is the 9th most famous South Korean Badminton Player.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Shin Seung-chan (Korean: 신승찬; Korean pronunciation: [ɕin.sɯŋ.tɕʰan]; born 6 December 1994) is a South Korean doubles specialist badminton player. She won the women's doubles bronze medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and 2014 BWF World Championships. Shin clinched the women's and mixed doubles gold at the 2015 Summer Universiade, also in the team event in 2013 and 2015.

10. Jung Kyung-eun (1990 - )

With an HPI of 21.59, Jung Kyung-eun is the 10th most famous South Korean Badminton Player.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Jung Kyung-eun (Korean: 정경은; Korean pronunciation: [tɕʌŋ.ɡjʌŋ.ɯn] or [tɕʌŋ] [kjʌŋ.ɯn]; born 20 March 1990) is a South Korean professional badminton player. She was the 2016 Summer Olympics bronze medalist in the women's doubles event.