Kim Yu-na put one hand to her mouth and let the tears flow.
All that pressure, so many expectations. The “Queen” took it all on and delivered royally.
The South Korean won the Olympic gold medal Thursday night, soaring to a world-record 228.56 points and shattering her previous mark by more than 18 points. It may go down as one of the greatest performances in figure skating history, and it’s sure to set off wild celebrations from Seoul to Pyongchang. It’s South Korea’s first medal at the Winter Olympics in a sport other than speedskating.
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 can’t believe this day has finally come for me,” Kim said.
Here’s the ceremony:
Will post other videos when they come in.
UPDATE: SI calls Kim “will be ranked among the greatest Olympic champions.”
The LAT, meanwhile, looks at how Kim’s triumph stirs Korean nationalist fervor.
Oh, good piece in the WSJ on how Kim leads a group that has “redrawn the map where great skaters come from.”
Oh, and just to answer some of the Google searches I’ve been getting:
- Sorry, I have nothing about Koreans bribing the judges. Please go back to 2ch.
- Sorry, I have nothing about Kim Yu-na’s score being too high. Please go back to 2ch.
- Sorry, I have nothing about Jim Hewish. Please go back to whatever online forum you belong to.
UPDATE: OK, this is funny (HT to creator):
UPDATE: Just another update to you Japanese netizens who keep Google searching in: sorry, still nothing on Kim’s score being inflated, or about the Koreans bribing the judges. You guys might want to just accept that your girl got outskated and move on, but I appreciate the bump in traffic nevertheless.
{ 92 comments… read them below or add one }
Makes benefit glorious nation.
mao don’t look too happy.
울지마오, 마오씨 :-0
No, she certainly did not.
Yeah, but I’d rather not go there. Mao seems like a good enough kid who skated her heart out. You can’t fault or pick at that. Well, at least you shouldn’t.
Yuna skated great. Mao looked great until her screw-up and then lost it from there. Congrats to Yuna on the win.
The little American girl Nagusu could be a force in Sochi.
It is no doubt great that Kim Yu-na wins gold, but it is really dimmed by the many nationalistic nut bags in Korea. Stoking anti Japanese feelings with the win, threaten to bomb Australian embassy for the ruling in the 5000m skating, confrontation with Apolo Anton Ohno, throwing water bottles just to name a few. It really makes you think does sport truly create goodwill?
To Pawi
Perhaps she did look unhappy. But I wonder whether you made the comment as a simple observation or with the intention of causing trouble. I also wonder that if the positions were reversed and Yuna received the silver, how would you reply to that comment if written by a Japanese person.
Tommy: Pawi is Pawi is Pawi.
Mao did a great job. I just learned recently that, like Yu-na, she has a sister who is also an ice skater but less successful.
I hope all three of them feel proud of themselves.
Sadly, that video was already taken down because of IOC copyright claim.
I really think that is a shame. At least with the non-sports events (medal ceremonies, etc) you would think the IOC would like them to be seen by as many ppl as possible.
Mao Asada herself seems like a likable enough person, but being a resident of Japan, the coverage and the hype was a bit too much for me sometimes. Congrats to Kim Yuna on what I’m assuming was a spectacular performance (haven’t seen it myself).
>WangKong
You might be wondering why you’re getting thumbs down marks for that post (#4). One of them was me. The thumbs down button sort of looked like an arrow pointing up (yeah I’m dumb), and I clicked on it intending to give you a positive rating. It wasn’t on purpose, I promise.
Tommy, your question is fair, but it’s clear to me that you don’t read Korean.
raintree_leaf, who cares so much except for you? Ultimately, I like that people can be passionate about such things and, besides, let’s not forget (because many of you have!) that such passion is not exclusive to Koreans, in any direction. It’s not like Koreans haven’t been taking in the trash as much as they’ve been dishing it.
It seems that when some of you expats in Korea aren’t indulging in schadenfreude, the negative Korean/netizen response to these games is the only thing you focus on or wish to focus on.
As for Mao, she did fantastic. For me she her program was more captivating to watch — she pulled off more triples than anyone in Olympic history. But she did falter and stumble twice, and she did seem visibly upset throughout scoring. Perhaps she was aiming for a major upset with her routine. But she started ranked in second and finished with the silver even after a flawed performance. It just seems a bit irrational to be so dejected.
사실은 한국어 읽을 수 있어요
Actually i do (read Korean), seemed a little sarcastic to me.
‘It seems that when some of you expats in Korea aren’t indulging in schadenfreude, the negative Korean/netizen response to these games is the only thing you focus on or wish to focus on. ‘
indeed! go look at pop gust o feeling and his chiding an ajumma for being happy that kim won. i’m just waiting for that asswipe in cholla to do the same.
Quite the contrary, it’s not dimmed in the least. The nationalistic nutbags and their petulance reflect poorly on themselves and those that support and enable them. If Yuna were one of the flag-throwing poor losers, shit-talking poor winners, or bottle-chucking idiots, then perhaps you would have a point. But she is not.
She’s been nothing but humble and gracious and so she deserves every accolade she’s receiving and should not have her accomplishment dimmed or tarnished by the childish nationalistic douchebags she happens to share a flag with.
The amazing aspect of this entire affair to me is that for the first time in history, we have a Korean athlete that actually deserves all the endless hype that the Korean media drums up. Just goes to show that when you anoint every pauper out there as a King or a Queen, the odds are that eventually you’ll find one.
Jumping and spinning around on the ice but they’re not required to wear a helmet?
‘The nationalistic nutbags and their petulance reflect poorly on themselves and those that support and enable them. If Yuna were one of the flag-throwing poor losers, shit-talking poor winners, or bottle-chucking idiots,…’
one wonders if one can see the irony.
88888
gangpe, i’m w your wife; please be more realistic about korea and koreans.
Something tells me Yuna will soon be richer than B. gates
I was going to donate some pesos to wm3…., but you deserve better, keep holding those balls buddy. Go ask for some non-Koreans for your little charity.
Not that I expect a coherent answer, but to what irony are you referring?
Well, before I get ‘all expats’ into trouble I should clarify the reasoning behind my comment. While there are many threads that cause heated language, this should have been a post where there was nothing but great comments. Kim Yu-na deservedly won wiping out the competition. Furthermore this medal has been won without any incident. There was no doubt as the score demonstrated. Yet the second comment clearly was aimed at taking a shot at Mao (and the Japanese.) It was totally uncalled for. Now Pawi may have trying to be sweet but I doubt it. (Judging by later posts.)
To be fair (as I didn’t see it when writing my first message) that raintree_leaf had also left an uncalled for comment and if I had seen it I would of called that out too.
How about any messages that are personal attacks be deleted. What about intelligent debate, and on a thread praising such a victory noting but supporting comments.
That should be ‘nothing’ not ‘noting’ 바보
The real question is: Why is Pawikirogi with Gangpeh’s wife? (#16)
Congrats! Please continue to carry the hopes and aspirations of the nation for the next 8 – 1 2 years.
How can this unparalleled feat be massaged to boost exports?
Hard to find truer words that these.
I’m just glad that I didn’t miss THE moment!
It’s was just like the 2002 worldcup fever again for the small Korean Canadian Makgeolli communinty here in Vancouver! Olleh! (올레?!)
‘Now Pawi may have trying to be sweet but I doubt it. (Judging by later posts.)’
너 나 잘 하세요.
‘To be fair (as I didn’t see it when writing my first message) that raintree_leaf had also left an uncalled for comment and if I had seen it I would of called that out too.’
눈물 겨워 못봐주겠구나. so sweet.
Congrats to Yuna. To my untrained eye, it was a flawless performance.
Haha Thank you, (Even if sarcastic, I’ll pretend it isn’t)
I’ve watched it and it was spectacular. I was somewhat skeptical about kim yuna and i thought the attention she was getting was too much. oh boy was i wrong! I never watched figure skating in my life and this was the first time i watched it. I don;t know nothing about it and i still don’t but after her performance i knew that kim yuna was the best.
Kim Yuna is a special girl. She overcame that incredible pressure and expectations that Korea gave her. For many people, that stress would have been too much. But she did it!
I think this win is more than just a win. It’s also a symbolism of what’s happening between Korea and Japan. Japan’s sun is dawning, and Korea’s sun is rising. I just hope Koreans don’t blow this accomplishment and moment of pride with some foolish over nationalistic act of some kind to make everyone’s face crooked.
What’s with all the hating? She won fair and square – her hard work definitely paid off.
Good on you, Yu-na!
Asada Mao was a worthy opponent. Her disadvantage was a bad coach and a not so great program (older Russian women teachers, who are good as technique teachers for babies) Kim Yuna had the unbeatable gay fathers team (Wilson, Orser) moulding her talent into a real queen whose performance became a joy to watch.
I only watched the first three groups (not the last one with Kim Yuna and Mao) – the younger Korean, 곽민정 who looks like she doesn’t belong on this Earth, like a cross between a pixie and an imp – She skated very well too. Very interesting character. Amazingly cute when she waits for the score.
Guys, just a quesiton how did you all become such experts of figure skating ?
I’m not trying to be sarcastic, i’m just surprised to see there are so many fans of this sport
The guy in the video is an English teacher in some 학원 ?
#32, never been a fan of this sport. Still don’t understand how the points get scored. They all spin and jump and look the same to me, nor did I watch Yuna perform. If everyone says Yuna was an untoucheable, then I’ll have to take their word for it. The Korean press are reporting this as if it’s the second coming Christ, and that the entire world is admiring and praising Korea. I look at the Canadian newspapers and there’s one or two blurbs about Yuna winning the gold, most write ups are about the Canadian girl who won the bronze. Does the Olympic black out get lifted after the games are over? Will they have the clips available on Youtubes after the games?
LOL, that’s brilliant, that funny video. Does the creator of that video have one he’s done for the long program? Would like to watch that one too.
Uh, no, he didn’t. He chided the Koreans he saw who cheered when Asada flubbed.
You must be SO disappointed.
“Guys, just a quesiton how did you all become such experts of figure skating ?”
You should ask that same question to all those millions of Koreans who have suddenly become experts at figure skating.
cm: lol look at this
http://www.corriere.it/foto_del_giorno/home/10_febbraio_26/sud_b04fd5dc-22a9-11df-8195-00144f02aabe.shtml
a surprisingly high number of ajoshi seem to be into figure skating, i hope it’s not a sign of my deepest fear, ajoshi going emo and metrosexual
Congrats for winning a medal in something that is not a sport. Come back when you’ve won a football, rugby or cricket world cup. Oh yeah, and for the bomb threat on the Aussie Embassy and the lost time you cost the Australian taxpayer today, I hope there is some steel-capped retribution on the streets of Chatsworth or Eastwood in the next few days. Better still if it is one of Pawi’s low-quality, war-criminal-loving relatives.
Congratulations to Kim Yu-Na and Korea.
“Congrats for winning a medal in something that is not a sport. Come back when you’ve won a football, rugby or cricket world cup.”
Now THAT’S funny.
“Now THAT’S funny.”
But almost certainly not in the way aaronm intended it to be funny, I should have added.
Didn’t see anything really startling in her performance. It didnt leave me gasping or startled. It was like a perfect rehearsal to me.
Now Mao’s performance had a vulnerability that was actually kept my eyes glued to the tube.
Football or rugby, OK, but CRICKET? Please, let’s not have envy impair your fine judgment. It’s not sports but a cousin of a grasshopper which goes cricket cricket to everyone outside the masters-and-slaves-wealth zone.
Fuck up you recently blown-in know-nothing. Tell me what are the three biggest single sport international events?
#38 gangpehmoderniste, that’s totally embarrassing.
While I don’t take back what I said before, I hope that certain people retaliate against those who use even this event/thread for a bit of Korea-bashing.
aaronm, cricket is basically a dumbed-down form of baseball. I’m sure if you gave a wicket (= bat) to any Korean pro baseball player, they would do a lot better than any of your star cricket players. Also, the next time an Aussie commits a crime or does something stupid, I will make sure to blame the entire country for what he/she did.
‘monkeys!’ aaronm referring to his indonesian wife’s people
‘fuck you!’ aaronm to korean female
‘do you beat your monkey?’ pawi to aaronm
Now, I don’t have everyone to play nice, do I?
Am I the only one who got the joke? It’s a lot more good-natured than what I thought of — “LMAO, MAO.”
‘Am I the only one who got the joke? It’s a lot more good-natured than what I thought of — “LMAO, MAO.”
that’s why i look up to you. i wish i could be so intelligent.
Ha! You forget where you are.
Ah, the usual crowd of “Heh, fucking Koreans…” “Ugh! Goddamn expats…” and the usual passive-aggressive “Who cares, it’s not a sport.” crowd. The last crowd is the worst out of the three… at least the first two has some respect for the sport and the competitors who devoted the entirety of their youth and childhood on it.
Emphasis mine.
Your ambiguous “you” just merged Kim Yun-Ah, the Koreans, and the nutjob who wanted to blow up the Aussie embassy into one single monster of over-generalization. Great way of presenting your opinion.
aaron why you Aussies are a bunch of big mouths and never do shit, do i have to remind you how the lebos roughed you guys up in YOUR HOME TURF, if you want let’s do this next time i’m in Korea come to me and call me a wog to my face steel-capped hero
Kim Yeon-a is a phenomenal skater, a terrific athlete, and has the potential to become aesthetically and artistically one of the finest figure skaters who has ever lived. Let’s acknowledge her achievement for what it is, which is truly inspiring! And, for her rivals, formidably intimidating… (I refuse to call her “Yuna”… if she is good enough to take Olympic Gold, can’t we spell and pronounce her name correctly? The whole international press and TV media are calling her “Yoo-nah” because of this non-standard romanization nonsense). Asada Mao is a very good skater as well, but she was obviously rattled by having to skate right after Kim’s stunning and crowd-wowing performance.
Some sportswriters and commentators (see various NY Times articles) have felt that Kim’s skating is heavy on technical accomplishment and not quite as developed artistically and aesthetically when compared to great skaters of the past. But the changes in scoring have made that necessary to win. I have no doubt that as she matures, so will her artistry. She already has a breathtaking and almost unprecedented technical command of the ice. Personally, I find her skating aesthetically inspiring as well.
So I give full marks to Kim Yeon-a. Those who think figure skating “isn’t a real sport” are misogynist ignoramuses…who know nothing about the history of skating or the Olympics. Just try it, if you really think so.
As for nationalist fervor… it is something I always deplore, whoever is indulging in it. In this case, it is particularly inappropriate for two reasons. One: Kim Yeon-a is Korean, for sure, and her dedication, intensity, concentration, emotion, and grace are typical of the very best in other fields where Koreans have achieved outstanding excellence… but… her coach is Canadian, and she trains in Canada. Shouldn’t Canada get at least part of the credit for producing this gold medal phenom? The other thing to consider… she is the one and only Korean figure skater in the Olympics. The Japanese had three females and one male who were in contention, one of whom got the silver medal. Japan has been producing world class figure skaters for three decades. Where is the Korean depth in this sport? With Kim Yeon-a’s triumph as an inspiration, I’m sure a whole new generation of hot Korean skaters will emerge eventually, but they’re not here yet. Koreans should be asking themselves why their Olympic figure skater has to train in Canada with a Canadian coach.
Nationalist fervor is unfortunately, inevitably part of the Olympics, along with corporate commercialism, but I personally have no use for either. Give the individual athletes their due. Using the Olympic competitions as an excuse to indulge in racial and national stereotyping, jingoism, and insults is the height of stupidity and infantilism… but that “sport” seems to be the perrennial obsession of most Marmot’s Hole commentators.
Well, you know what this means…more demand for asian women, less supply for us loser asian men. Thanks a lot Yuna.
JW!
I see that you haven’t found your testicles yet…
The guy in the vid… at 0:36 he was practically whipping it.
Oh, and… he was wearing shorts that had FUCLA colors… just thought I’d mention that…
i found this comment from a western guy who lives in japan:
‘Got to watch the competition at a Tokyo Electronics store with about 500+ people crammed around the TV sets. It was obvious that Yuna Kim was the winner but i typical fashion the Japanese when in victory they are the virtuous winner and in defeat the victim of unfairness. You lost fairly Japan to one of your biggest rival countries. Suck it up’
i’m thinking we won’t be hearing about poor sportsmanship from, say, westerners who live in cholla, will we?
ps i just watched mao asada’s performance and i must say that she was the epitome of grace and beauty. i bear her no malice. in fact, i don’t bear the people of japan any real malice though i wish they could make an attempt to temper korea’s hurt feelings re their occupation of korea.
@ cm # 45: Why ? They’re not rioting or doing anything bad, they’re just staring very intently, it is just a bit strange but overall not an unpleasant picture to look at
@ pawi # 48
I’m reasonably sure the only thing this guy beats is his own dick
“I still can’t believe my performance,” Kim said. “I predicted that my score would probably be 140. I still can’t believe the score that I received. I’m really surprised. It’s almost as close as the men’s score.”
She probably knows better than the judges what she really deserved.
Not saying she wasn’t the best skater out there…but by 23 points??
Most antipodeans and/or cricket lovers I know are usually too chilled to take cricket-bashing seriously, and love the attention when they get teased for their sport, which should be replaced by the “3-Day International of Watching the Paint Dry”. What a fantastically refreshing exception to have someone get so angry.
Yer Hanging Out With the Wrong Crowd, *Mate*.
Take a Chill Pill.
Jeebus, AAK, most of us commenters here read enough Korean to get the bad pun. It’s only you who fell out of your chair.
I confess my shameful secret that I, as a language lover, love puns. Have you heard the really elaborate one about the Israelis in the desert?
But even conceding that it was a bad pun, why was it necessary for people to jump on Pawi and question his ulterior motive based on a bad pun?
Because despite his recent pivot toward humanity, pawi has a long and filthy history of harboring ulterior motives, particularly regarding anything involving Japan.
You weren’t around to witness it, but suffice it to say you’re better off having missed out.
His track record, perhaps?
ha! you’re one to talk about filthy. when you going to change that gravatar? you’ve toned down your cock-n-balls rap, how bout going further?
ps my pun was meant innocently but i forgot to check w the expat bureau of korean affairs before posting it.
pss gangpe, when you speak a second language, sometimes it’s hard to catch the slang. ‘beating your monkey’ means the same thing you said about aaronm. my comment was word play. of course, if you already knew that, i apologize.
i like pawi (i suspected it meant something like that but yes my English is awful, never learned the fuckin language properly) and people who speak their mind , what you guys want, some dumbed down satinised boring forum where everybody agree with everybody on some world peace platform ? Fuck it let’s face it we hall hate each other, white, yellow, brown, black and i’m cool with it, it’s better to express our feelings than being some hypocritical asswipe.
Sorry for the rant
In that case, you and Pawi should invite aaronm to your espresso party.
I thought pawi was just being illiterate, as usual — ooljemao, insetead of ooljimayo.
Anyway, pawi claimed something about Matt from Gusts… and, another usual for pawi, it turned out to be false, even slanderous. Probably nothing I hate more than misinformation. In the best case, pawi’s habitual misquoting of others here makes him either stupid or just plain lazy; in the worst case, it makes him dishonest and deceitful. Which is it, pawi? And, BTW, would you please provide the source for your quote in 58?
‘In that case, you and Pawi should invite aaronm to your espresso party.’
maybe his wife can swing by with some bananas.
Ok but no cricket on tv
thanks, gangpe.
‘ooljemao, insetead of ooljimayo.’
wtf? 울제마오? 울지마요? wtf?
wait a minute, you thought 울제마오 (sic) was mistake for ‘울지마요’ (sic)? hmmmmmmm
‘thought pawi was just being illiterate, as usual — ooljemao, insetead of ooljimayo.’ abcdef
Reading the comments again, this is completely out of line and disgusting. There is a difference between trash talk on blogs and expressing the hope that some random person gets assaulted based on their ethnic origin.
I hope no one else on this blog hopes there is some steel-capped retribution on the streets of “Chatsworth” or Eastwood.
@ # 77
He doesn’t what he’s talking about, he probably just watched Romper Stomper or The Combination too many times
abc, 울지마오 is a perfectly grammatical, and a completely different thing from 울지마요. You gotta brush up on your honorifics.
‘Reading the comments again, this is completely out of line and disgusting.’
in his defense he was sex with a monkey. so his standard for disgusting is going to different from others.
Nope, not hoping for some random person to get hurt. Read Brian’s blog where you will see some enterprising type has posted details of the judge’s address online complete with photos of his house. No doubt someone who has a connection with Australia. That is the person who needs a kick in the teeth.
Japan could be just as Patriotic and fanatic as Koreans… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuIrxCakGhM
Something for the Japanese netizens: Yuna Kim skated well and didn’t miss a jump while Mao Asada missed a jump combination (should have been enough to keep her off the podium). Clearly, the new scoring system is BS, not that the older one wasn’t. The big difference is that the judges used to have just one trick up their sleeve is they wanted to prop up their favorite (by messing with the artistic mark), now they’ve got 5 (the mess with the “program component” marks).
Correction: …the judges used to have just one trick up their sleeves if they wanted…
Ouch… pics of Yuna’s battle scar after her gold winning performance.
http://hanopolis.com/?articleNo=17951&story/Kim-Yunas-battle-scars
Excellent performance by the top 4 girls. If the Japanese want to complain, they should really complain about the coaching, not the performance. Mao’s short program was stunning, but Yu-Na’s was a crowd pleaser and you couldn’t help but smile. The Long program’s didn’t play to Mao’s strengths. Remember, Yu-na’s choreographer used Yu-na’s body’s strengths. Her legs and arms are unusually long, which makes jumps look far more graceful. This was well reported on by the Korean media. Her program played to these strengths very effectively. Figure skating, remember, is not about who is the better technical skater, but rather, who has the better program. Much like hockey, coaching and strategy play a key role. Add in choreography to that mix as well.
You can argue that the crowd was an effect with the large number of Koreans living in Vancouver, you can argue that Kim’s proportions gave her an advantage… but in the end, Kim’s skate was clean. It may not have been as difficult as Mao’s but it was clean, elegant and graceful, and in this competition, she had the best overall performance. Same with Evan and Plushenko in the men’s. That however, was a much closer match. If Mao had skated perfectly, I’d have expected a similar result. Very close, with one skater edging out the other.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aGZlRsnCC7Ws&pos=11
a little late, just because i’m an asshole who loves to stir shit
gangpeh,
You’re slipping! Pretty soon you’ll hate Korea just like all the other expats! I jest… I jest…
Oh no, it’s overall a pro-korea article ! I just wanted to poke the
immigrantsexpats community, old trolling habits are hard to beat for an incognito gyopo nationalistThe below are video clips for those who confidently say about figure skating and what Yu-Na Kim has done without knowing anything about its technical difficulties.
NBC Yu-Na Kim Free Skate review (Christie Yamaguchi, Sandra Bezic)
Yu-Na Kim’s Triple Jumps
Flip and Lutz Jumps
Ignore “Yu-Na Kim’s Triple Jumps” @ 91 above. I put a link to a Korean version by mistake. Watch its English version instead.
Also, watch what Scott Hamilton has to say about Yu-Na.
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