The Winter Olympics have officially ended and the big story for Koreans around the world was Kim Yu Na’s gold medal winning performance in ladies’ figure skating. She broke the scoring record by holding nothing back in the free skate and in the end, she won the hearts of millions as she finally let tears flow. She was one of the great stories of the winter Olympics, having arrived in Vancouver with the highest of expectations and the weight of South Korea to win its first medal in figure skating. She performed to perfection and walks away from Vancouver knowing that she executed perfectly and lifted a nation. There have been thousands of articles written about her performance and you all witnessed her breathtaking performance, so we leave you with not just one thought but many thoughts and visuals of Kim Yu Na. Enjoy!
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.
So it has finally come. South Korea’s Kim Yu Na will finally hit the ice in competition for the crown jewel event of the Winter Olympics: woman’s figure skating. There’s a reason why it’s the last of the figure skating events because it carries the beauty and pageantry of the Winter games and Kim Yu Na possesses all of that in her skating. She enters the games ranked #1 in the world and having won many events. However, she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders because South Korea has put their hopes into this teenager to become South Korea’s first gold medalist in figure skating at the Winter Olympics.
Sport Illustrated’s E.M. Swift says Kim Yu Na is the best female skater he’s ever seen when she is at her best. ” I don’t say that lightly, but Kim is the complete package: elegant, athletic, fast, beautiful, charismatic,” says Swift. “Her programs are wonderfully choreographed. She has all the jumps, except the rare (for women) triple axel. Her spins are weightless. But the 2009 World Champion will have to win here before I put her above the likes of past Olympic champions Kristi Yamaguchi and Katarina Witt. She’ll have to prove she can withstand the suffocating Olympic pressure.”
So here’s a quick breakdown between Kim Yu Na and her biggest rival from Japan – which adds to the tension – Mao Asada.
Yu-Na Kim versus Mao Asada
There are several Annie Oakleys in this shooting match, but the gold medal could come down to the same two skaters who have been dueling for supremacy ever since the last Olympics: South Korea’s Yu-Na Kim and Japan’s Mao Asada, who were born 20 days apart in September 1990. Reigning world and Grand Prix series champion Kim seldom stumbles and is peerless from an artistic standpoint. But former world and Grand Prix titlist Asada, who lives and dies by her spectacular jumps, could rack up huge point totals if she lands two triple Axels in her long program as she did recently at the Four Continents event. Their contrasting talents could put the much-maligned revamped scoring system to the test.
Read more at New York Times about how South Korea weighs heavily on Kim Yu Na’s shoulders.
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