Lee made her first South Korean team, as a fourteen-year-old teen, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, swimming only in the women's 400 m individual medley.

[2] There, she fought off a sprint freestyle challenge from Hsieh Shu-tzu to invincibly dip the five-minute barrier for the sixth spot and twenty-eighth overall in the opening heat, finishing with a time of 4:59.52.

[3] At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Lee qualified for the second time in the 400 m individual medley by clearing FINA B-cut of 4:48.76 from the Dong-A Swimming Championships in Ulsan.

[4] Swimming in the last of four heats, Lee came from behind at the final turn to edge out Malaysia's Sia Wai Yen with a robust freestyle kick for the seventh seed in 4:58.94, just ten seconds below her submitted entry standard.

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