Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim (born 1 July 1992) is a Vietnamese Taekwondo athlete. She is a member of the Vietnam national Taekwondo team and has won six world gold medals, five Asian gold medals, and four SEA Games gold medals in Taekwondo. She attained a sixth-degree black belt certification in 2019, at the age of 27.
Biography Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim is from Tánh Linh (district), Bình Thuận Province. She was born into a farming family, to her father Nguyễn Đình Sơn and her mother Lâm Thị Hoà Thới. Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim was introduced to Taekwondo at the age of 10 after witnessing her older brother practice martial arts. After graduating, she moved to Ho Chi Minh City. After taking the university entrance examination, she competed in the World Championships and was called up to the national team.
Career 2010 In 2010, under the guidance of coach Nguyễn Thanh Huy, Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim began developing her abilities in the women's individual poomsae event. At the age of 18, she and the Bình Thuận poomsae team won the silver medal in the women's team event at the National Sports Festival.
2011 At her first Southeast Asian Games in 2011, Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim won a silver medal. Lệ Kim subsequently suffered a serious injury and nearly retired from competition.
2012 After returning to competition, Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim won two gold medals at the Asian University Taekwondo Championships and the World Military Taekwondo Championships in October 2012. At the World Championships in Uzbekistan, the athlete won the first world gold medal for Vietnamese Taekwondo and a silver medal in the team poomsae event at the World Championships in Colombia.
2013 The following year, at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, she and her teammates won two gold medals in the team poomsae and creative poomsae events at the World Championships in Indonesia. Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim, Nguyễn Thị Thu Ngân, and Châu Tuyết Vân became the three female martial artists to win Vietnam's first gold medal at the 2013 Southeast Asian Games on 18 December in the Taekwondo competition.
2014 In 2014, Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim won a gold medal in the women's standard team poomsae event alongside Châu Tuyết Vân and Nguyễn Thùy Xuân Linh at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships. She subsequently competed at the Southeast Asian Junior and Senior Championships, winning two gold medals in the women's U30 team poomsae and five-person creative poomsae events.
2015 At the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, the trio of martial artists Châu Tuyết Vân, Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim, and Nguyễn Thùy Xuân Linh won the gold medal in the women's team poomsae event for Vietnam.
2016 At the 2016 World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, on the first day of competition, Vietnam won a silver medal in the women's under-30 standard team poomsae event through Châu Tuyết Vân, Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim, and Liên Thị Tuyết Mai. On the second day of competition, Vietnam won two more silver medals and one bronze medal. In the freestyle team event for athletes over 17, Châu Tuyết Vân, Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim, Hứa Văn Huy, Nguyễn Thiên Phụng, and Lê Thanh Trung won the silver medal.
2017 In August and September 2017, the Vietnam national Taekwondo poomsae team competed in three consecutive tournaments and achieved notable results in all of them. Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim, together with Châu Tuyết Vân and Liên Thị Tuyết Mai, won three gold medals in the women's team poomsae event at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
2018 The following year, Vietnam's first gold medal came in the women's under-30 team poomsae event. The three athletes Ngô Thị Thuỳ Dung, Liên Thị Tuyết Mai, and Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim put in a strong performance to earn a score of 8.210.
2019 At the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, Châu Tuyết Vân, Liên Thị Tuyết Mai, and Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim successfully defended their gold medal in the women's team poomsae event.
2020 In 2020, Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim and her teammates won one gold medal in the women's team event and one bronze medal in the five-person freestyle poomsae event at the 2020 Vietnam National Taekwondo Championships.
2021 At the 2021 National Taekwondo Club Championships, Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim won a gold medal.
2024 On 15 May 2024, Châu Tuyết Vân, Liên Thị Tuyết Mai, and Nguyễn Thị Lệ Kim won the gold medal in the women's over-30 team standard poomsae event at the 2024 Asian Taekwondo Championships.
Selected achievements Sport YearCompetitionLocationAchievementSource2010World Taekwondo Poomsae ChampionshipsTashkent 2010National Sports FestivalVietnam 20112011 Southeast Asian GamesIndonesia 20116th World Taekwondo Poomsae ChampionshipsRussia 20116th World Taekwondo Poomsae ChampionshipsRussia 2012World Taekwondo Poomsae ChampionshipsUzbekistan 2012Asian University Taekwondo ChampionshipsMalaysia 2012World Military Taekwondo ChampionshipsVietnam 2012World Taekwondo Poomsae ChampionshipsColombia 2013World Taekwondo Poomsae ChampionshipsIndonesia 20132013 Southeast Asian GamesMyanmar 2014World Taekwondo Poomsae ChampionshipsVietnam 20152015 Southeast Asian GamesSingapore 2015Southeast Asian Taekwondo ChampionshipsVietnam 20152015 National Youth Taekwondo ChampionshipsVietnam 2016Asian ChampionshipsVietnam 2016Asian ChampionshipsVietnam 20172017 Southeast Asian GamesMalaysia 2017Asian Indoor and Martial Arts GamesJapan 20172017 Summer UniversiadeChina 2018Asian Taekwondo ChampionshipsVietnam 20192019 Southeast Asian GamesPhilippines 2021National Taekwondo Club ChampionshipsVietnam 2024Asian Taekwondo ChampionshipsVietnam
Achievements Four Prime Minister's Certificates of Merit, awarded in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015. One Labor Order (Vietnam), awarded in 2018. One Advanced Youth Following President Ho Chi Minh's Teachings Medal in 2020. Labor Order (Vietnam) (2025).
Family She has a younger sister named Nguyễn Thị Kim Hà, born in 2000, who currently holds a fourth-degree black belt. She has won two gold medals at the Southeast Asian Championships, one silver medal and one bronze medal at the World Taekwondo Junior Championships, one gold medal and one bronze medal at the World Beach Taekwondo Championships, and two gold medals at the French Open Taekwondo International Championships.
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