By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Fencer Nam Hyun-hee, who earned a silver medal Monday night in the Beijing Olympics, is the first Korean to win an Olympic medal in the sport.
Like many other athletes in these Olympics, she endured personal tribulation before earning Olympic glory.
Nam, 27, took up the foil for the first time while at middle school in 1994. She joined the national fleuret team in 1999 despite being just 154 centimeters tall, but had to leave the team later due to a knee injury.
The diminutive fencer made the team again in 2001 after hard training, but her most difficult time was yet to come.
After leading her team in the standings in 2005, Nam underwent surgery to stop her eyelashes from obstructing her vision. Fencing authorities suspended her from the team for missing training because of the surgery.
The conservative atmosphere in the domestic sports community made her surgery a big issue, to Nam's shock. ``Plastic surgery is nothing to be ashamed of. I have been doing my best,'' she said.
The fashionista fencer went on to win medals in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, drawing attention as a photogenic swordswoman.
Nam said her hardship helped her make a leap forward. ``When something bursts out, you can think about it in either a positive or negative way. I chose to think positively and made it,'' she said.