By: Won Gyung
2014 Sochi Olympics
game has been finished, and there was a big scandal in lady single figure
skating. It’s about Kim Yuna who is a South Korea’s figure skater and the gold medalist
in 2010 Vancouver Olympics. She was already a famous celebrity after winning
the 2009 World Championships, but the Olympic gold medal made her a cultural
icon. Yuna’s preparation for the 2014 Olympics had been covered in mystery.
She’d left competitive skating for 16 months and entered just four major
international competitions in the four years since Vancouver. This year’s
Olympic figure skating competition attracted one of the deepest and most
exciting ladies’ fields ever: there was Julia Lipnitskaia who won the gold
medal in team event pushed her onto the short list of contenders for gold. Also
in the mix was Kim’s longtime frenemy, Japan’s Asada Mao, the silver medalist
in 2010.
On Wednesday, Yuna
was 17th of the 30 skaters in short program, and her short program was Send in
the Clowns; she showed “clean” program. However, her program was underscored,
and Sotnikova, a 17-year-old, finished her short program a mere 0.32 points
behind Kim. The next day, she got 149.95 score which was a 40 point jump from
Sotnikova’s average score. The Russian audience continued to cheer and blow
vuvuzelas through the next two skaters’ performances, but Kim took on the ice
in silence. Yuna also showed cleam program in free skating that her program was
Adios Nonino. Surprisingly, the crowd roared in delight when Kim’s overall
score of 219.11 was announced, a shocking 5.5 points adrift of Sotnikova's
224.59.
After finishing the
competition, most of people expressed that Kim Yuna was robbed the gold medal.
In figure skating, there are injustices; illusions of impropriety are even more
common in an arena fraught with politics and paranoia. However, the elegance
and virtuosity of Kim’s performance were good enough to carry the day in Sochi.
She left two gorgeous performances on the world’s biggest stage aging, and she
made it look easy. She kept struggling with injustices in competition, yet she
retires having never finished off the podium in her entire career. Yuna said “The
judges give points and I can’t do anything about that”, “I did all I wanted to
do, like I wanted to do it. … I’m just glad it’s over.” She officially
announced her retirement after medal ceremony.
Kim Yuna is my
role-model and hero. One of my hobbies becomes watching figure skating
competition because of seeing her performance. I think she is not only a figure
skater but also an artist. Even though if she won the gold medal, it would be a
perfect retirement, the reason why I am sad is not she won the gold medal, but I
can’t watch her beautiful performance on the competition anymore. However, I’m
also happy because she achieved her last goal, and she is also happy. I will
remember her passion and her beautiful performance forever. Adios, Yuna!
No comments:
Post a Comment