By The pride of Korea, Kim Yu-na has done it and won Olympic Gold:
A women’s figure skating performance that likely will be remembered as one of the best of all time.
The South Korean soared to the Olympic gold medal Thursday night, scoring 228.56 points and shattering her previous world record by more than 18 points. It is South Korea’s first medal at the Winter Olympics in a sport other than speedskating, and it’s sure to set off wild celebrations from Seoul to Pyeongchang.
Even Kim seemed to be dazzled by the show she put on, gasping when she saw the monstrous score. Coach Brian Orser gave a Rocky-like victory pump, shaking his clasped fists over each shoulder.
“I still can’t believe it,” Kim said. “I waited a long time for the Olympics, and it feels like a large weight has been lifted off.”
The 19-year-old grinned as she hopped up to the top spot on the podium, tugging at the bottom of her dress. When the gold medal was slipped over her head, she kissed both sides and held it up. Her lip quivered when the South Korean anthem began, and then came the tears.
She made a beeline for someone holding the South Korean flag as she set off on her victory lap, and carried it triumphantly as fans serenaded her with cheers and applause.
“Truly I still can’t believe that I did what I wanted to do at the Olympics,” she said.
Longtime rival Mao Asada of Japan won the silver medal, but it was no contest—even with Asada landing both her triple axels, one in combination with a double toe loop. Asada was more than 23 points behind Kim, a margin so big Kim could have done nothing but figure 8s for the last half of her program and still finished in front. [Yahoo Sports]
Congrats Kim Yu-na who is just a phenomenal figure skater. Here is the video of the lady’s free skate. For the love of God can someone please tell the announcer how to pronounce Kim Yu-na’s name? It is not that hard.
Here is also video of the medal ceremony. Judging by Mao Asada’s facial expressions and body language she didn’t seem too happy to win a Silver. Someone needed to get her a larger Taeguki as well.
Anyway I think it is safe to say that Kim Yu-na will continue to be the highest earning Winter Olympian after this big win.
11:44 pm on February 25th, 2010 1
I was surprised Canada won bronze with a couple mistakes, but there was a lot of sympathy involved.
This spike in Korean ch'emyon (체면) should assuage the negative han (한) from losing the women's short track relay. Hopefully it carries over to tonight's men's short track events, or I'll be stuck in the dog house when the USA wins, especially if there's an official call involved.
3:07 am on February 26th, 2010 2
^ you're in the doghouse no matter what happens.
3:48 am on February 26th, 2010 3
Watching the video of the medal ceremony is my first look at the figure skaters in action. Not to take anything away from Miss Kim or the Canadian girl, but Mao Asada actually struck me as being the most graceful of them all.
Kinda strange about the little ROK flag. Perhaps Koreans only do flag one-upsmanship when its between ROK and DPRK!
3:55 am on February 26th, 2010 4
You're joking right? Does getting stuck in the dog house depend on your nationality?
I hope you are because it would be pretty pathetic that you'd be stuck in the dog house if the US wins. If you are personally blamed for the US winning, than that's pretty frickin low.
4:10 am on February 26th, 2010 5
Oh be careful?
You said something nice about a Japanese person.
Even if whatever you state is fact, and I'm not sure if what you said isn't just purely subjective, you'll get a, "If you don't like it, go back to your country!" demand.
4:24 am on February 26th, 2010 6
wassup! what do you think of this video i made about what it was like to watch kim yuna's gold medal performance?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljztNXMCmHw
4:27 am on February 26th, 2010 7
Yeah, I know. I'm sure my wife's sixth sense is now tingling and she'll accuse me of high treason when I get home
!
5:41 am on February 26th, 2010 8
I think Mao Asada actually could've scored more in the Free Program due to her more difficult jumps at the beginning. BUT she faltered later on. And she was obviously rankled with the enthusiastic reception of Kim's performance. She did admit focusing all her energy on the difficult jumps at beginning and than losing focus afterwards I think. But since she was in the 2nd after Short Program, it'd been difficult to overcome the deficit.
I do want to mention Mirai Nagasu of US. As she was listening to the US coach before her turn and camera focused in on her face, I felt bad for her. She didn't look nervous. She looked SCARED! After seeing the great performances and the crowd's reception, she must've felt nervous. Maybe her age? But she did great?
7:08 am on February 26th, 2010 9
Just look at your face, your face with your clenched jaws about to pop. Just look at it. It's ugly!
9:10 am on February 26th, 2010 10
Why? My head doesn't look too big for my shoulders, my eyes are not far apart, I have a nose bridge and my eyes and hair aren't the same color.
I'm trying to understand what you said, but as usual, it's totally illogical.
Way to prove what I say about Korean nationals like you is correct.
Please continue to support what I say through what you say as well as your actions too.
So a Korean called Tom, do you think whether or not he gets put in the dog house will depend upon his natioanlity or not?
A simple yes or no answer will suffice. It was just a question after all.
9:12 am on February 26th, 2010 11
I actually like Kim Yuna. Her coach is a Canadian right?
Will he be a national hero like Hiddink?
10:10 am on February 26th, 2010 12
Nagasu was sweet. She showed confidence and I liked her more than the Canadian athlete. She is a good promise for USA. Yuna's next adversary?
Good luck Nagasu !!!
12:04 pm on February 26th, 2010 13
Yes, it looked like she could have won that one up to the point she made a mistake. As a matter of fact, even the Korean commentators were shocked by her mistake. All they could say was "Oh!" before being practically silent until the end of her performance.
12:07 pm on February 26th, 2010 14
He already is a national hero in Canada. He was a world famous figure skater (Don't remember the Battle of the Brians?).
1:07 pm on February 26th, 2010 15
Am I the only one who is asked to download Micosoft silverlight in order to even watch the video?
1:47 pm on February 26th, 2010 16
That was funny. Thanks for the link.
2:01 pm on February 26th, 2010 17
Kim was amazing and so was Rochette. Very inspirational! And they were Trending Topics on Twitter today! http://bit.ly/a9IaX7
3:33 pm on February 26th, 2010 18
HIddink lived and coached in Korea when he was the coach of the Korean soccer teaqm. Yun-ah Kim's coach lives and coaches in Canada – I don't know if he ever even travels to Korea. So he only gets a tiny fraction of the face time on Korean tv that Hiddink got.
1:12 am on February 27th, 2010 19
Kim Yuna lives in Canada, so Brian Orser probably doesn't travel very often to Korea. But, I get the feeling you'll be seeing a lot more of him on Korean TV soon.
1:14 am on February 27th, 2010 20
Don't download it if you haven't yet.
1:33 am on February 27th, 2010 21
Good for her, training in Canada. I hear coaching practices in Korea can be abusive.