Shim Min-ji
Shim Min-ji (also Sim Min-ji, Korean: 심 민지; born April 25, 1983) is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle and backstroke events. She is a two-time Olympian (2000 and 2004) and a three-time relay medalist at the Asian Games (2002).
Shim made her Olympic debut, as a 17-year-old teen, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where she competed in the women's 100 m backstroke. Swimming in heat three, Shim finished second behind Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry in 1:03.20, but missed the semifinals by 0.15 of a second, as she shared a nineteenth-place tie with Australia's Giaan Rooney in the preliminaries. She also placed seventeenth, as a member of the South Korean team, in the 4 × 100 m medley relay (4:16.93).
When her nation hosted the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, Shim won a total of three bronze medals: 4 × 100 m freestyle (3:44.81), 4 × 200 m freestyle (8:19.62), and 4 × 100 m medley relay (4:13.41). She also attempted for her fourth straight medal in the 100 m backstroke, but missed the podium by a 0.48-second margin behind *an's Aya Terakawa.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Shim competed again in two swimming events. She cleared a FINA B-standard entry time of 1:02.87 (100 m backstroke) from the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. She also teamed up with Ryu Yoon-Ji, Sun So-Eun, and Kim Hyun-Joo in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. Swimming the third leg, Shim recorded a split of 56.91, but the South Koreans missed the final by two seconds outside the top 8, in a time of 3:44.84.
In the 100 m backstroke, Shim challenged seven other swimmers on the fourth heat, including top medal favorites Laure Manaudou of France and Reiko Nakamura of *an. She rounded out the field to last place by 0.67 of a second behind Canada's Erin Gammel in 1:03.14. Shim failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed twenty-fourth overall in the preliminaries.