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Lee Shi-young earns spot on national boxing team

How cool is this? Lee Shi-young, who took up amateur boxing a few years ago, has now qualified to be part of South Korea’s national boxing team. Dude. That’s awesome. I recall reading headlines that she was hoping to make the Olympic team, and now she’s one step closer to that goal.

Lee Shi-young, age 31, won her match in the final round for the national team tryouts on April 24 against her 19-year-old opponent (score 22-20). She’s the first celebrity to become a national team athlete for any sport. She competed in the 48kg weight class (Flyweight) but plans to compete at this year’s nationals in October in the 51kg category, since there is no 48kg class at the Asian Games.

All this while filming movies and doing the whole actress rigamarole as well; her last movie was rom-com Men: An Operating Manual (or How To Operate a Man), which performed fairly well at the box office and generated positive word of mouth.

I think it’s pretty remarkable that Lee Shi-young has made it all the way to national athlete status having only begun the sport in 2010, in preparation for a drama role. And even then it wasn’t that her Playful Kiss character even used those skills onscreen, but (if I recall correctly) that she used boxing to get into shape. She found herself enjoying the sport and kept up with it, and must’ve just had a natural aptitude for it. Congrats to her, however far she advances from here!

Via Osen, Review Star

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DAEBAK! That really is an amazing accomplishment for her and I hope she gets far! :)

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Wow. Just wow. To advance so quickly, and at a later age (no matter how physically fit you are, it is harder to take up a sport the older you are) and to show such dedication as a true amateur--! Daeback, is right! I admire her very much for this.

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I think this and her love for GUNDAM just....
my heart.

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Cool but she is so SUPER SKINNY!

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That's actually kind of an advantage.

As the boxers need to make weight.

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Yea, I'm super impressed with her progress but can't give her full credit because shes in the wrong weight classes. Weight classes are meant to separate heights and get rid of physical advantages, but she's so skinny, she's in an incorrect weight class and has considerable height and reach advantages over her opponents. If she were in the under 55kg or under 60kg, where most girls of her height are in, I would applaud her.

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Really, I always felt the only way to make professional basketball a fair sport would have been to saw the extra lengths off the limbs of the taller players so everyone could compete based on their skill, instead of some birth-advantage of having more height and reach.

Are you sure you thought this objection through before you started typing it?

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LOL thats EXACTLY what I'm saying, basketball players have an unfair advantage due to their height, in the same way, LSY has an unfair advantage due to her height; however, the difference between boxing and basketball is that boxing has weight classes while basketball doesn't. it's quite simple really

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UR ALL ****** LSY IS ****** AWESOME
KTHXBAI

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sorry my sis

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She is awesome!

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LSY my hero(ine)!

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omg this is amazing! :D i really look up to her ><

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Wow, you go girl :)

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That's pretty rad, I must say. Funny and tough? She's awesome!

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That's so cool! And not that 31 is old by just ANY stretch, but...it is kinda old by an athlete's stretch - especially for a sport taken up at 28 or 29. You GO, Missy.

As for national-level sports, I thought I remembered reading that Song Il Gook had been a fencer? But perhaps that was before he was a celebrity - so it's not celebrities who have been...but celebrities who are also?

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And all the more impressive since she's been defeating boxers younger than her.

Sigh, I still feel she would've been the better choice for Level7-joo won drama...

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Immeasurably better

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That would have been fabulous! I can just imagine the Joowoon chemistry now.

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She was my first choice for that role, lol.

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I love her! She's one of my favorites. She's funny and talented (apparently also a song-writer, sometimes!) and she's totally cool. She makes me want to take up boxing, too O:

Or just go for something I want to get into more despite being older! I think that's important to always be willing to move forth and learn and get better even if you don't start when you're very young. You never know where it will take you and LSY is obviously going places! Much respect and admiration for her ^^

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oops! this was supposed to be it's own comment...I wonder what happened??

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it would have been sooooo perfect! *sighs* lost opportunities

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and there is Jo Dalhwan who was a guest in the new hodong and max show. He was mentioned as national athlete in table tennis. just don't know if that is also before he became an actor

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Aww, I love her and more power to her! Now could she please get into a drama stat? Preferably a rom-com. :)

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Wish her all the luck! When I saw Wild Romance, I knew those moves were real!!

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Amazing!! You go, girl!

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MAD RESPECT for her, here.

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DAEBEK indeed for this accomplishment. She actually used her boxing skills in her role as a bodyguard (guarding Lee Dong Wook) in Wild Romance. That was my first glimpse of her natural boxing skills and then later read about her accomplishments in this sport.

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WOW! I've always found her to be cool and wow, she really is!! Big accomplishment indeed!

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This is so cool! Totally respect her! Fighting!

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*Clap, Clap* She is awesome!

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wow she is so admirable.. just awesome.. all the best to her

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She could do a romcom on boxing :DDD ... I love her characters. They and she are so cool~

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good for her!! i think it's admirable that she's exploring/following other interests besides acting. it would be AMAZING if she really made the olympic team! if she makes it, what year would she compete?

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Good for her! It's nice to hear about celebrities that actually actively partake in activities outside the entertainment industry.

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GO HER! :D

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GO HER! :D

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So cool! Congrats!

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Woah. Pretty fierce. I'm super impressed that as an actress, she'd go all out for a sport that could bruise / injure her face etc, since that's an actress' "rice bowl"

Mad props to her!

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congrats :)

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It sounds like a drama character description : 'genius' boxer/successful actress. lol but all jokes aside its very impressive and I think she's a great role model for young and older women!
Best of luck to her!

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I was never into her as an actress but she has my full respect and admiration as a person. One needs lot of passion, discipline, hard work and will to achieve ones dreams and goals. Now, I actually want to more about her. I feel that time spent will not be wasted. Congratulations to her and all the best in the future too.

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Wow! Impressive. The more I see of her, the more I am impressed. I also love how she has the guts and determination to make it this far. Lee Shi-young hwaiting!

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Good for her!! *even though, honestly, I REALLLLY couldn't stand her when she made a guest appearance on Running Man*

So funny how things work out though!!

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omg! I love this girl/woman. she's pure awesome!

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she did something with her face right ? just curious it is okay to do a boxing ? i mean, sometimes her face get a punch right ? i 'am just worried...

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She is now my girl crush. Next step, the Olympics! HWAITING!

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WOW super woman!

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It's a split reaction to this article - on one hand, I give her MAD PROPS to not only attempt this sport but to wipe the floor with her opponents and succeed on this level, and that's tremendous, and yet on the other hand, in acting usually the face is the 'money-maker' and the thought of the hard blows she must take to the face is just downright scary - blackened eyes, split lips and broken noses can certainly impact her drama filming.
Her type A driven personality has been obvious since her early career days on We Got Married - she's sweet and definitely has tunnel vision where her goals are concerned.
She is a role model for women/girls.
Just don't touch her toy Gundams. Ever.
:)

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I think its more commendable that she really doesn't give about what happens to her face, the fact that this pretty actress is out there slugging it out in the ring simply cause she LOVES to do it makes me respect her more

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I know! Its great that she's not afraid to follow her passion for fear of it damaging her 'image.' What a great example

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She must care somewhat, as she admitted to having plastic surgery a few years back.

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I love this! so awesome and cool!! though I'm only 25, I'm trying all these new things in hopes I'll find something I just have a natural talent for (and maybe even make it to nationals !)

It's never too late to do anything, take for instance, the oldest sharpshooter in the world is a 78 year old indian grandmother, who has won over 25 national championships, having picked up a gun only 10 years prior too.....how awesome!

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Mad respect.

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Nice story, but forget boxing -- I still want in on that celebrity ski team :).

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Wasn't it her role for Wild Romance that she got prepared for as a body guard? Or did she get in shape for her Playful Kiss role as well?

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I love her for this!

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Makes me love her more.

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Oh this is totally cool. All the power to her!

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She is so cool! Boxer by day, actress walking the red carpet by night!

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New hero! She's the best

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Wow, I wasn't aware of the background of her as a boxer! SO happy for her and congratulations to her!

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of how she became a boxer, i mean!

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WOW, LSY. You go, girl! I'll cheer for you from afar.

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Pure awesomeness! Wish her the best of luck at the games!

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actress, singer, model and boxer ... wow the fact she don't care whether boxing will hurt her face or not and constantly winnin many championship over the years for a sport she took up near her 30's, this ger deserve very high respect ... hope her dream to enter Olympic come true..fightin!

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Daebak indeed! You go, girl!! Lee Shi Young, hwaiting!! :D

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Amazing & Admirable ! To be in the acting world where looks matter a great deal & decide to passionately pursue a sport where the daily chance of being bruised is a given , is such a brave & strong decision to make.
What a awe-inspiring lady !! * Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap ..

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AND National Team EVEN !!!!

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