For those of you who watch the Vancouver Winter Olympics, you are introduced to the possible gold medalist for Olympic Women Figure Skating. Kim Yu-Na is a renowned Korean figure skater and the reigning world champion. For the Koreans, she’s a big celebrity because her talent in the figure skating world brought South Korea fame. Koreans bestowed her the title, Queen Yun-Na.
Kim Yu-Na was born in 1990 in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do and as early as 7 years old, she took on the sports of figure skating. At the young age of 12, she began winning skating competitions. She is the first Korean to win medals in figure skating.
When you delve into South Korean society, Kim Yu-Na (pronounced as Kim Yeon-A) is a national phenomenon. She is one of the most celebrated people there that she needed bodyguards to protect her from paparazzi and avid fans. She is talented and pretty and now wonder she has accumulated many endorsements and appeared in at least 15 commercials in 2009. She is currently the face of Hyundai Motor, Maeil Dairies, Samsung Electronics, Nike, Kookmin Bank, and others. And she can sing to boot; she has just began her singing career recently. She has been named as the South Korean Ambassador 2010-2012 Visit Korea Year. She has numerous fan clubs, most notably the Hyenas (go figure). Winning the Olympics will skyrocket her fame into new heights.
Despite a busy schedule, she focuses much of her training basing herself at Toronto, Canada under the tutelage of coach Brian Orser. Kim is famous for her technical brilliance, high jumps, huge ice coverage, fast speed, superior artistry, lyrical style, grace and musicality, and for the great ice coverage of her jumps due to her high speed take-off. On the 2009 World Championship, she won gold and made history as the first ever woman to surpass 200 points under the ISU Judging System. She has a wide lead from her competitors. She also sets world record scores for her short and free skate programs.
Watching her compete in the short program of Olympic Figure Skating, she truly delivered. All the high praises and superlatives attach to her name are well justified. Although carrying such a heavy expectation from her country, she was solid in her skating and her appealing personality shines through in each performance making her infectious as a performer. She takes an almost 5 point lead over her competitors.
This is her short program for Worlds which she performed at the Olympics which earned her a score that beat her own world record.
Stay tune for the free skate program. I bet she will nail that too. Go Yu-Na!
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