Remembering Shim Mina, “Miss World Cup” of 2002

First off; she’s still alive and well, but it’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 11 years since Shim Mina was discovered while showing her support for her national soccer team during the 2002 World Cup. After being dubbed by the Korean media as “Miss World Cup” and gracing the covers of all the major sports newspapers in the country, Mina shortly thereafter released her debut album and quickly became a K-pop sensation.

Her star’s faded since her 2002 heyday, but she’s never dropped too far from the public eye. After her banner year, she released three subsequent albums and a few singles, the most recent being “Goodbye” in 2011.

Of course, before she became a household name in Korea and took center stage, she was a very active backup dancer, working it behind some of the most popular K-pop artists. In the above home video, shot circa 2008, Mina shows that she still remembers all the moves to the routine she did on stage with Park Ji-yoon for the latter’s 2000 hit, “Coming of Age Ceremony,” which has one of the sexiest K-pop dance routines ever. (The lead and backup dancer parts are practically identical.)

Mina’s been pretty much out of the spotlight the last couple of years, reportedly concentrating her efforts on the clothing line she launched last year called “Tamina,” which, according to her Wikipedia page, is said to be now defunct, but as of this writing, the website is still up.

Mina at Seoul Stadium in June of 2002, sporting the look that landed her on the cover
of most of South Korea’s sports newspapers throughout the nation’s “World Cup fever.”

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