Kim Yeon-koung

Kim Yeon-koung (, ; born 26 February 1988) is a South Korean professional volleyball player and a former member of the FIVB Athletes' Commission.

She is an outside hitter and the former captain of the South Korean National Team.

She announced her retirement from the national team in August 2021.

As a result, she was selected in the national team in 2005.

She made her international debut at the World Grand Champions Cup, where she ranked as 3rd best scorer.

Afterwards, she was selected as the first choice in the first round of the V-League draft by the Cheonan Heungkuk Life, where she started her professional volleyball career.

During her first professional season, Kim contributed to Heungkuk Life becoming the champions of the Korean League.

She received every award available, including the 'New Face Award', 'Regular Season MVP', 'Final Championship MVP', 'Best Scorer', 'Best Spiker', and 'Best Server'.

However, she had to receive surgery in her right knee afterwards.

Kim signed a contract to play overseas in the Japanese V.Premier League with JT Marvelous, becoming South Korea's first professional volleyball player to play overseas after KOVO was founded in 2005.

Heungkuk Life and JT Marvelous agreed on a two-year loan agreement for the player with the possibility of a one-year extension negotiated after the first season.

"'We had been discussing a move for her since last year. We didn't think about Italy, but we contacted three other Japanese teams, including Toray Arrows, last season's champion,' the Pink Spiders official Kim Hyun-do said at press conference. 'JT Marvelous failed to find good import players last season, so it was the most active team seeking to sign Kim. In addition, the Marvelous promised that it will support her bid to play for Korea's national team. Though we can't announce her annual salary, the deal is worth more than $300,000,' added the official."

Before fully recovering from the surgery, she participated in the 2006 World Championship and 2006 Asian Games.

Mid-competition, she suffered from serious foot pain as an aftereffect of the surgery.

Heungkuk Life became the reigning champion of the 2006–07 season with the help of Kim.

The team achieved the feat of being 1st place in the regular season and winning the finals for two years in a row.

Kim was selected as the MVP for both the regular season and championship and was also the best spiker of the regular season.

Immediately afterward, she again received articular cartilage surgery.

After a few months of recovery, she participated in the World Cup and played full-time.

While she contributed to her team finishing 1st place in the 2007–08 regular season, thus receiving the MVP, her team was defeated by GS Caltex in the finals.

She finished the season with the highest success rate yet of 47.59%, becoming the best spiker of the league for three consecutive seasons.

She received another knee surgery soon after, forcing her to miss the Olympic Qualification for the Beijing Olympics.

South Korea was not qualified as a result.

In the 2008–09 season, she became the first female player of the Korean V-League with the record of scoring 2000 points and 2000 attack points.

Despite her ground-breaking performance, Heungkuk Life had a difficult season with the replacement of head coach Hyeon-Ju Hwang, finishing 3rd for the regular season.

However, the team had a successful post-season performance and won the final championship against GS Caltex.

Kim's outstanding performance led to her claiming her third MVP title.

With Kim as the main attacking weapon of the team, JT, which were ninth out of 10 teams in the previous season, achieved a miraculous record in the 2009–10 regular season with a winning streak for 25 games, which is second highest record after NEC Red Rockets's 31 winning streak in 2001.

Kim was best scorer of the regular season with 696 points in total, leading JT to end first place in the regular season.

In the championship final, the team suffered a stunning loss against Toray Arrows.

Kim was voted for the 'Fighting Spirit Award' and 'Best 6'.

Kim signed a three-year contract with Fenerbahçe in 2011 after playing for Heungkuk Life in South Korea for four seasons and JT Marvelous in Japan for two seasons.

Despite South Korea finishing in 4th place, Kim was the Most Valuable Player and Best Scorer at the 2012 London Olympics, where she set the Olympic record for most points scored (207), topping the previous record of 204 points by Yekaterina Gamova at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Kim is the first player in the history of Asian volleyball to receive an MVP award in the CEV Women's Champions League.

Kim is the first player to have four entries in the list of those to have scored 30 points or more in a single Olympic Games match in volleyball.

Kim Yeon-Koung was born in Ansan and started volleyball in 4th grade, initially inspired by her oldest sister who was a volleyball player.

In middle school, because she was less than 170 cm (5'7"), she considered quitting volleyball and becoming a soccer player. Fortunately, during her three years at Hanil Women's High School, she grew more than 20 cm, and moved her position to an outsider hitter from her initial position of a setter and libero.

She received the spotlight of the Korean media due to her outstanding physical condition and performance in the high school stage.

She signed another two-year extension with Fenerbahçe and extended it for another season in 2016.

She spent the 2017–18 season in the Chinese Volleyball league and came back to Turkey in the following year with Eczacıbaşı VitrA.