Chi Hyun-jung (지현정) is one of the professional former figure skaters from South Korea. Known for her participation in the 1987 World Championships and 1988 World Championships.
Quick Facts
| Real Name | Chi Hyun-jung |
| Hangul | 지현정 |
| Hanja |
池炫靜
|
| Age | 51 years old |
| Date of Birth | December 6, 1971 |
| Birth Place | South Korea |
| Zodiac sign ♎ | Sagittarius |
| Height | N/A |
| Weight | N/A |
| Net worth | N/A |
| Mother Name | N/A |
| Father Name | N/A |
| Siblings | N/A |
| Profession | Figure Skater |
| Education | N/A |
| Spouse | Yongkoo Choi |
| Spouse’s Date of Birth | N/A |
| @chi711206 | |
| N/A | |
| N/A | |
| TikTok | N/A |
| Official Website | N/A |
Chi Hyun-jung Bio, Age, Parents, and Education
Chi Hyun-jung a former competitive figure skater was born on December 6, 1971 form South Korea. As of 2023, her age is 51 years old.
Likewise, she has South Korean citizenship and is of an East Asian ethnic group. According to her date of birth, her sign is Sagittarius.
In Hangul Chi Hyun-jung’s name is written as 지현정 in Hanji as 池炫靜 and her family name is Chi.
Additionally, she hasn’t revealed any information about her family members, parents, or siblings and has kept it secret and out of the spotlight.
Currently, there is no information regarding her education, and have kept it secret and will update it as soon as possible.
Chi Hyun-jung Social Media
She is currently active on Instagram as @chi711206 and has 2,812 followers as of 2023. But she is not active on any other social media account or may be hiding it from the limelight.
| @chi711206 | |
| N/A | |
| N/A | |
| TikTok | N/A |
| Official Website | N/A |
Chi Hyun-jung Husband & Children
Chi Hyun-jung is married to Yongkoo Choi and living their life happily. They have twin sons but at the moment their identity such as name, and date of birth is unknown and will update it soon.
Chi Hyun-jung Figure Skater Career
Hyun-jung started skating when she was five or six years old and debuted her career by participating in the 1984 World Championships and the 1984 World Junior Champ with a 20th position in World Junior Champ.
Next, she also participated in the 1985 World Championships and World Junior Champ getting her 25th position in World Junior Champ.
In 1986 she was positioned 22nd in World Championships and 19th in World Junior Champ.
As of 1987 she got 29th in World Championships and won second position in the South Korean Champ.
And in 1988 she took retirement from her figure skating career and started doing coach and choreographer for her students some of them are as follows:
Chi’s current students include:
- You Young
- Lee Hae-in
- Cha Jun-hwan
- Kim Chae-yeon
- Kim Hyun-gyeom
- Kim Han-gil
- Kwon Min-sol
Her former students include:
- Shin Yea-ji
- Yuna Kim
- Kim Min-seok
- Park So-youn
- Lee June-hyoung
- Choi Da-bin
- Byun Se-jong
- Park Sung-hoon
- An Geon-hyeong
- An So-hyun
- Park Se-bin
- Lim Eun-soo
- Lee Siwon
Currently, she was seen in June 2023 at an event and Park Ji-min took her interview which was published in mfocus.kr in June 6, 2023,
the article was in Korean and was later translated.
Cultural Focus: When and how did you start figure skating?
Coach Chi Hyun-jung: I was five or six years old. I tried playing the piano or something like that, but I didn’t like it all, and I went to the skating rink and played well. That’s how I got started. I rode a little bit when I was six years old, and then I started in earnest when I was in the first grade of elementary school. Originally, I went to Kyesong Elementary School, but when I went up to the second grade, I moved to Lira Elementary School to skate.
Coach Chi Hyun-jung started her career at the Dongdaemun Indoor Ice Rink, which has now been lost to history. In 1985, the swimming pool in the Taereung Athletes’ Village was converted into an ice rink and the training site was moved, but the situation was still uncertain. This is because the Taereung Ice Rink was closed in the summer in the name of maintaining the facility. In the 80s, when it was not free to leave the country, figure skaters went abroad for training camps with state support or at their own expense. Coach Chi Hyun-jung had a similar situation.
Chi Hyun-jung: We were just skating and competing, not in a situation where we could perform internationally. At that time, the skating rink was closed in the summer. Since there is no ice, we only train outside, and sometimes we do physical training indoors. If the situation is a little better, I will go to battery training. That’s why it used to be harder to ride. There were no spectators, no fans. Now when I play (games), it’s full, and I support them during the games, which gives me more strength for the kids.
Q: You’re a pioneer who has been going to training camps since you were a player. Coach Chi Hyun-jung’s disciples also do battery training almost every season, so what does battery training mean to you and your students?
Chi Hyun-jung: I think it’s an improvement for me. First of all, the kids are ready for next season, but if I say the same thing over and over again, the players can be like, ‘I’m just saying it again.’ Also, not all children are the same, so sometimes these kids can be this kind of kid and not that kind of kid. If he takes a picture of something that I don’t see, it gives me advice that I can change it a little bit. Sometimes things don’t go my way. From the standpoint of listening to assists, I used to come and go at least once. When you talk about it, you have to be confident that you’re right. But if you say it ten or twenty times and it doesn’t work, you think, ‘Am I wrong?’ I think there’s a certain confidence in me, a part of me that thinks that’s part of it.
Coach Chi Hyun-jung flexibly collaborated with foreign coaches to lay the foundation for athletes to train in a good environment at home and abroad. In the past, he coached Frank Carroll (USA), who served as Michelle Kwan’s eternal companion, and a new choreographer, and now he is co-coaching Cha Jun-hwan with coach Brian Orser (Canada). Online, offline, borderless.
Q: Do you have a lot of collaborations with foreign coaches, are there any difficulties or pros and cons in coaching? For example, if another coach gives you a different type of guidance, it might confuse the player. How do you reconcile this?
Chi Hyun-jung: I don’t think there are any difficulties or pros and cons. After all, they’re people on the same path, and the result they’re talking about is the same, but they’re talking in slightly different directions. If the guide is different, the player can be confused, so in that case, we talk about it. So, for example, when Brian (coach Brian Orser) and I each watch the video and say, ‘Don’t you think this is the case?’ we put the story together and tell the end to Junhwan.
Coach Chi Hyun-jung has produced four national team members in the 2022/2023 season. In particular, Kim Hyun-hyun (Han Advertisement), Lee Hae-in (Sehwa Girls’ High School), and Kim Chae-yeon (Surigo) showed remarkable technical upward trend and stability throughout the competition. When asked about the secret to his disciples’ remarkable growth, she laughed, “I don’t think so.” On the other hand, she said that the direction of his coaching is “trust” and “alignment with the players”.
Chi Hyun-jung: I don’t think there’s anything differentiated (laughs). First of all, I let them see me on video and say, ‘I think this is what I do. How do you feel? What do you think?’ I think we discussed it a lot. The players themselves realize it, and they put those opinions together. And actually, that’s what you have to do. It’s not like the younger players. Young children can’t do that. Young players give us clear guidance: ‘Do this.’
But now that you’re in high school, you’re a representative player, and the players who are in that position right now, you have to match each other to build trust. He has to believe in me and I have to believe in the player.
The most important thing is to adapt to the player. You have to do what you can to bring out the best in the best way for this child, so that you can get the best grades. If he fits me, he’s like me, not him.I don’t really have the know-how or method of mental care. I’m not a psychologist. But if you think about what has passed, every player is very different. Some children need to be stimulated, some need to be comforted, and some need to be confident. Sometimes you shouldn’t touch a sensitive player, sometimes you just say what you really want to say and don’t. That’s why I let the situation go according to the player.
For example, in the case of Soyeon, she is very nervous every time she fights, so she talks about something other than the game during the whole match. At the rink, we never talk about competitions other than posture.Q: That’s why you always talk to me a lot before the game.
Chi Hyun-jung: Sometimes it’s sobering, and other times it’s just reassuring. Sometimes they just say, ‘I can do it.’ Sometimes when it’s a little bad, they just talk about posture and stuff like that.
Usually, teachers always have the same basic postures, but I talk more about the situation than that. On the day of the game, the player is in good shape and is very upset. If you don’t, you’ll make a mistake in a strange way. Don’t let your guard down until the end, even if you like it. That’s what I’m saying.Q: You mentioned that each player has different characteristics, but I’m curious how you coach Jun-hwan and Hae-in.
Chi Hyun-jung: In the case of Joon-hwan, he keeps giving me confidence in myself. I watch the video and say, ‘You’re fine.’ It keeps me confident in myself and reminds me of what I’m doing. I’ll tell you what it’s not, but I don’t show bad videos as much as possible. I keep the good things in my memory. It’s a form of image training. Other than that, I think I kept increasing my physical strength and pulling it up.
Hain wasn’t feeling bad at the time of Skate America, but he just got the flu and couldn’t get out of bed at all. I was in a lot of pain, and I was like, ‘Should I abstain or should I get on?’ for a few days and then I barely played. It was about three weeks until the tournament in France, and my fitness was even lower, and it was a little bit tough.
I went back and forth, and I went through the ranking step by step, comprehensive, and raised them one by one. I had the will to do it myself. I want to go to the world, I want to go to the four continents. It was a good fit.Figure skating usually involves the first time a child wears skate shoes at the age of seven. It is a young sport with a prime period of teens and early 7s, and the age group of the coaching staff is also younger than other sports.
Therefore, there is a clear disadvantage. The absence of school life that inevitably arises after starting a professional athlete class is just that. This means the first social life that can be gained as a student, and the gap in the gifts that will lead to the right path. Coach Chi Hyun-jung was an “adult” who guided the youth of this period correctly.
Q: What was the hardest time in your career as a player and coach?
Chi Hyun-jung: As a player, I think there was a lot of stress that came with being able to keep doing well and then the juniors came up.
It’s the same as a coach. You have to help kids when they’re struggling mentally, and I’ve been through it, but I think the hardest thing is when you keep giving feedback and it doesn’t come up. When a player who can do well is not able to do well due to psychological reasons or stress.Q: In the case of male athletes, the results often come up late. In between, I’m going through a slump or puberty, so I think there’s going to be some stress. I also wonder how you take care of your disciples during this time of waiting for the leap.
Chi Hyun-jung: Boys don’t go through puberty that much. There is, but it doesn’t hit me that badly. And it’s clear ‘likes and dislikes.’ So I tend to make them feel good, or they listen to me and say, ‘yes, but I want to do this.’
On the contrary, puberty is difficult for female athletes. Some kids don’t listen at all, some players shut up and don’t talk, and it’s a lot of subtlety. But during that time, I had to go through a lot of physical changes and diet, so it was very stressful. Boys have strength even when their body shape changes. If (the boys) can pass it because they have power, then the women lose power and gain fat. It’s a trait that women have, so I can’t help it, and it’s not easy to get through it. But then you get injured, and when it does, it’s harder to get through.Q: That’s why the age of the Korean national team is so young. The age of seniors in international competitions continues to rise, and in some cases, the key players participating in senior international competitions are not representing their country. I’m curious about your thoughts on these situations and the need for change.
Chi Hyun-jung: We were already talking to the federation. We had a meeting. “Shouldn’t we develop and treat these kids like juniors do, and help them go a little longer?” I thought it was the best thing to be able to compete internationally, so I made up the national team with kids who could go to the Junior Grand Prix, but as a result, the older kids were in a situation where they couldn’t stand up psychologically as the older kids. Athletes have to train for a long time and stay alive for a long time, but if you finish ninth or tenth, that’s why you keep going. It’s really a bit of a difference. So I thought about separating the junior and senior representatives, but it wasn’t easy to change.
The 2022/2023 season was one of the best years in the history of figure skating in South Korea. On the barren ground that Kim Yuna had passed alone, the fruit had finally come to fruition. In 2014, South Korean figure skating had to give up one quota spot at the Senior World Championships because no athlete had achieved the minimum technical score in the women’s singles. In 2023, it is now equipped with pair skating and ice dancing, making it the perfect ‘Team Korea’. The women’s singles and men’s singles also set records back-to-back. Naturally, the media attention on the first-ever All-Star Game World Team trophy has also increased. The squad was enjoying themselves, but the coach had a slightly different perspective.
Chi Hyun-jung: It’s my first time (with a team trophy). I’m trying to enjoy it, but I think it’s a game anyway. It’s fun to watch because the kids are just cheering for you, but you have to decide whether you’re first, second, or third. It’s a little bit easier because I don’t have anything at stake, but I think I still had the stress of the game. I couldn’t just ignore it and just have fun.
We just started by saying, ‘Let’s not do this.’
‘Did you go out? You like. But the dance was also the first time I came up from junior, and the pairs was just my first competition. It can’t be helped, so let’s not be as sloppy as possible, we’.Q: Not only seniors but also juniors have done a lot of good results in international competitions. What do you think are the strengths of Korean players on the international stage?
Chi Hyun-jung: The level of the kids has really improved. Overall, when I go out to junior competitions, my kids ride well. Our kids went up all over the place, but not all at once. From the bottom, 4th place, 5th place, and now 1st ~ 3rd place. I think that kind of situation will continue to connect.
However, Korean athletes are a little lacking in basic skating skills. Choreographically, I’m really good at it, but instead of developing my technique (jumping) quickly, I tend to let go of my skating skills a bit. If you take it with you, you’ll get better grades.Q: Technically, do you prioritize improving the completion of your jumps?
Chi Hyun-jung: I think it was. In Japan and Russia, “Once you have a basic skill, the technique is good. It’s easy to go,’ but we were like, ‘Let’s run fast, let’s do it fast!’ Because of that, there are situations where there is a slight difference when you go to the senior.
So, in the case of Chaeyeon, I practiced a lot of skating basics and how to connect with the program before the season started. I was jumping really well, so that was a plus, so I got a good result. If you only have a jump and this part is not good, even if you jump a jump, your GOE (Grade of Execution) will end at 1 or 2. That’s going to be 3 or 4.With that as a base, in our case, if you fall over a jump and there’s nothing to see, it’s really bad. ‘The jump fell, but it’s too bad. I rode so well.’ Jumps can make mistakes, so you won’t always be 100 percent.
Q: It’s a competition for triple Axels and other difficult jumps. In this situation, is it right for the coach’s students to go all-in on jumping, or is it better to go in the direction of increasing performance points on the jumps they are doing well or in the direction of getting points for non-jumping? I’m curious about the direction your coach has.
Chi Hyun-jung: Young players tend to talk about going high. Anyway, Russia is going to come out, and Japan is doing triple Axels and quadruple jumps. I think it’s only right that children in elementary school should have a high level of difficulty.
Athletes who are preparing for the Olympics are in a really bad situation when they get injured, so I can’t help the athletes who play, but I think it’s right for the female athletes to have more GOE, composition, and perfection. Injuries are something you have to keep fighting, and if you do it, you’re bound to get hurt. Even if you don’t get hurt, you still use the same area.Q: What about the male athletes?
Chi Hyun-jung: Joon Hwan is doing a quadruple flip right now. Now we’re trying to add one more quad. I’ve been doing it for two or three years. First of all, I took it out in the sense of making the program more complete, and I’m preparing for that this season. The boys have to play quads.
Chi Hyun-jung Net Worth
As for Chi Hyun-jung net worth she hasn’t spoken about it nor can be found anywhere and is unknown at the moment.
Body Stats: Height, weight, and Body Measurements
There is no information regarding Chi Hyun-jung height, weight, and body measurements. But she has a beautiful pair of black eyes and black hair.
Chi Hyun-jung Rumors, Scandals, and Gossip
Chi Hyun-jung is a calm person so there are no rumors, scandals, gossip, or controversy about her, and she has kept her record clean.
Trophies and Awards
| Event | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 |
| World Championships | N/A | N/A | 22nd | 29th |
| World Junior Championships | 20th | 25th | 19th | N/A |
| South Korean Championships | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2nd |
Also Read: Ahn Hyun-suk (Badminton), Kang Min-hyuk (Actor & Singer)
