Career
She is a three-time Olympian (2000, 2004, and 2008), a fourth-place finalist at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, and a two-time medalist in the individual medley (both 200 and 400 m) at the 2005 East Asian Games in Macau, China. Nam made her first South Korean team, as a 15-year-old, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where she competed in the women"s 200 m individual medley. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Nam placed seventh in the 400 m individual medley with a time of 4:50.35, edging out Greece"s Vasiliki Angelopoulou by exactly half a second (050).
Eight years after her Olympic debut, Nam qualified for her third South Korean team, as a 23-year-old, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
She eclipsed a FINA B-standard entry time of 4:52.38 from the Dong-A Swimming Championships in Ulsan. In the 400 m individual medley, she topped the first heat by five seconds ahead of Singapore"s Quah Ting Wen with a time of 4:46.74.