Documented path
Born in Ansan, South Korea, Kim started volleyball in 4th grade inspired by her oldest sister who was a volleyball player. She was initially short (under 170cm) and considered quitting, but grew over 20cm during high school. Selected #1 overall in the 2005-06 V-League draft, she immediately dominated as a rookie.
Born in Ansan, South Korea to a modest family; father Kim Dong-gil and mother Lee Geum-ok; youngest of three daughters, with the oldest sister being a volleyball player who introduced her to the sport.
Announced retirement after the 2024-25 V-League season at age 37; widely regarded as the greatest Korean volleyball player; career spanned Heungkuk Life, JT Marvelous (Japan), Fenerbahçe and Eczacıbaşı (Turkey), and Shanghai (China).
Where the conditions came from
Each is placed on a −1 to 3 scale from documented evidence, and the three are never added together. A combined total would rank Kim Yeon-koung against other people. Held apart, they explain why this path ran differently from another one—which is the only comparison this project supports.
The marble itself
+2Tailwind
What capability, drive, or early skill is documented in the person rather than their surroundings?
Became the first player in Korean professional sports history to win Rookie of the Year, regular league MVP, and championship MVP simultaneously at age 17. Exceptional physical edge (grew to 192cm) combined with athletic ability, though initially considered too short to continue.
Where it was dropped
0Neither way
What money, family standing, network, or permission was already in place before the work began?
Born in Ansan, South Korea. Oldest sister was a volleyball player who inspired her to start in 4th grade. Working-class family with no significant financial resources or volleyball connections beyond the sister's involvement.
The shape of the track
+1Tailwind
What place, timing, institution, or peer group made the next step available?
Attended Hanil Girls' High School, noted for its volleyball program. Selected #1 overall in the 2005-06 V-League draft. The Korean professional volleyball system provided the pipeline, though no exceptional peers or mentors are documented.
A −1 is a documented headwind, not a missing value; a 0 means the sources record nothing notable either way. Annotation confidence: Medium. These are analyst readings of what the sources record, not measurements of merit, talent, or effort. The twenty-two scored dimensions remain available inside the deeper research detail.
What moved through the conditions
Silence in a biography is not evidence that perseverance was absent.
This is an unchosen opening or condition in the record, not an estimate of how much luck caused the outcome.
Strongest documented signals: Prodigy / innate ability, Parent / family domain, Elite institution pipeline.
Describes the starting position, not what the person later made of it.
Strongest observed levers: Domain proximity, Started serious reps before 20, Prior reps.
Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
The timeline below shows the sequence of work and transitions around the selected early milestone. It is evidence of a path, not proof that every step was necessary.
Dominant figure at the top of a field. The tier summarizes documented career recognition through the data cutoff—not Kim Yeon-koung's worth or future potential.
Question four · where did the leverage come from?
Each non-zero lever gets a best-supported origin, evidence signals, and confidence. Unresolved is the honest default when the biography cannot distinguish self-built, advantage-enabled, earned, external, or mixed.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
A structural wave is external to the person, even when their position improved access to it.
This is a bounded inference from the current annotations—not a claim about private effort, merit, or the percentage of Kim Yeon-koung's outcome attributable to any origin.
Structural luck, Encounter luck, Event luck, Outcome variance can change every arrow in the path. This successful-only dataset cannot observe the near-identical paths that did not break through, so luck stays visible and unscored.
Multiplying capacity documented later in the path. Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
Access or conditions documented near the beginning of the path. Zero means "no clear evidence in reviewed sources," not "advantage was absent."
Born in Ansan, South Korea to Kim Dong-gil (father, b. 1956) and Lee Geum-ok (mother, b. 1961). Youngest of three daughters; oldest sister was a volleyball player who inspired her to start the sport.
Oldest sister was a volleyball player who introduced Kim to the sport; no documented parental sports background.
Kim was born in Ansan, South Korea, and started volleyball in 4th grade following her oldest sister. She was initially too short (under 170cm) and considered quitting for soccer, but grew over 20cm in high school to reach 192cm. Selected #1 overall in the 2005-06 V-League draft at 17, she became the first player in Korean pro sports to win Rookie of the Year, regular league MVP, and championship MVP in the same season, leading Heungkuk Life to their first championship.
advantage confidence: High · source count: 4 · audit: partial_source_verification · status: subagent_researched_beta