—Wins Four Gold Medals, Including All-Around, at World Cup Event in Lisbon, Portugal

Yonsei sophomore Son Yeon-jae (Sport and Leisure Studies) earned four gold medals at the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup Event held in Lisbon, Portugal April 3-6. Along with winning the Ball, Clubs, and Ribbon events in Lisbon, Son made history as the first South Korean rhythmic gymnast to win an All-Around title at a World Cup event.
At the Lisbon World Cup, Son won with the Ball by earning 17.500 points to edge out Belarus’s Melitina Staniouta (17.400). In the Clubs, Son scored 17.450 points, topping Dina Averina of Russia (17.250), while with the Ribbon, she received 17.150 to best Belarussian Arina Charopa (17.050). Son (17.500) took the bronze medal in Hoop, behind Staniouta (18.050) and Maria Titova (17.700) of Russia. And in the All-Around competition, Son (71.200) was the only gymnast in the field to score more than 17 points with all four apparatuses, easily beating Staniouta (68.150).
While the absence of top gymnasts such as Margarita Mamun and Yana Kudryavtseva in Lisbon aided her historic performance, Son has recorded a number of quality showings in 2014, winning bronze medals in Ribbon, Clubs, and Hoop at the Moscow Grand Prix, while taking silver in Ribbon at the Stuttgart World Cup. And just a week after the Lisbon World Cup, she won silver in Clubs and bronze in Ball at the World Cup event in Pesaro, Italy. Son, who trains with top rhythmic gymnastics coaches in Russia, is expected to compete for multiple titles at the upcoming 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, scheduled to take place September 19-October 4.