Admit it. You cried while watching Kim Yu Na skate and we all cried when we saw Kim Yu Na let her emotions go soon as she finished. It was the first time we saw the raw emotions of a 19 year old girl and it was just as beautiful as her performance. Queen Yu Na became a king at the Winter Olympics as she shrugged off the pressure and threw down an incredible performance to win the gold medal in ladies’ figure skating. One of the TV commentators said it best when she said that was one of the greatest performances in Olympic history.

Kim Yu Na destroyed the old record with a world record score of 228.56 and won the gold medal.  Her final overall score, 228.56, was about 10 points better than what Jeremy Abbott, the two-time U.S. national champion, managed here — and would have put her ninth in the men’s Olympic competition.  The men are allowed to do one more jump in their free skates than the ladies — which makes what Kim Yu Na did all the more impressive.

“I still can’t believe the score that I received,” Kim said. “I’m really surprised. It’s almost as close as the men’s score.” “I have accomplished the biggest, most important goal in my life,” she said. “I am going to enjoy this moment for a while.”

Ladies’ figure skating is the crown event and all eyes were on the reigning world champion but pressure and history were against her as the previous three ladies’ figure skating favorites had failed to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.  Kim Yu Na is special for shrugging that all off of her and just competing like the athlete she really is.  Kim Yu Na was the perfect person to win a gold medal for South Korea.  It’s a country that could be considered chauvinistic with a workforce dominated by men, but it was a female teenager on Thursday night that took South Korea on her shoulders and brought pride to a proud nation.  Of course Korea took pride in their gold medals in speed skating and other sports, but this gold medal lifted a nation.  The last glorious sporting win that captivated South Korea was the World Cup in 2002, and they didn’t even win the world cup.  They reached the semi-finals and took pride in their greatest World Cup performance.  Since then, South Korea has come up short in sports like the World Baseball Classic.  Even this week, there was the disheartening disqualification of the short track speed skating team in the 3,000 meter relay race.  They lost the gold medal after having dominated the event for the last four Olympics.  But this is special…. really special.  A young lady put South Korea on her shoulders and she made them proud.  She is now King Kim Yu Na!  Bravo Yu Na! Bravo!

Check out her gold medal winning performance (video) at NBCOlympics.com.  Also, check out the analysis of Kim Yu Na’s score by the New York Times.

The Winter Olympics starts up this weekend and you know you’ll be glued to your television for the next couple of weeks. Time Magazine came out with it’s top athletes to watch out for during the Winter Olympics and Kim Yu Na is one of the featured athletes. She is South Korea’s biggest hope in winning a gold medal figure skating because she enters the games as the current world champion and therefore the unofficial favorite to win a gold medal. However, we all know about past Olympics and the disheartening falls of figure skating favorites. Will Kim Yu Na be able to handle the weight of South Korea on her shoulders or will she succumb to the pressures of living up to massive expectations?

Taekwondo, archery, short track — these are the niche sports in which South Korea tends to dominate. But a bright-light event such as figure skating? You bet, ever since Kim, 19, began racking up championships and setting records with the highest-scoring performances, quietly making her case to be the Olympic gold-medal favorite. Steady and consistent almost to the point of appearing robotic, Kim rarely slips on the ice — a skill that has served her well in the points-based judging system. She’s the current world champion and trains in Toronto but is hard to miss in Seoul — her image adorns buses, stores and cosmetics counters. When it comes to performing, the unflappable teen always delivers; Kim stood at the top of the podium in every competition she entered this season.

Read more at Time Magazine