Yuna Kim
Yuna Kim, also credited in eastern name order as Kim Yuna or Kim Yeon-a, is a South Korean figure skater. Known for her well-rounded skills, achievements, popularity, and impact on the sport, she is one of the most highly recognized athletes in South Korea and regarded as one of the greatest figure skaters in history, being commonly referred to as "Queen Yuna". Kim started skating at five years old and competed in women's singles from 2001 to 2014. She is the 2010 Olympic champion, the 2014 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time World champion the 2009 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion, the 2006 World Junior champion, the 2005 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a six-time South Korean national champion.
Kim never finished off the podium in her competitive career, becoming the first South Korean figure skater to medal at the Olympic Games, World Championships, ISU Grand Prix, and ISU Junior Grand Prix. She won every major international competition in the course of her career and is a former record holder in all three competition segments in women's singles under the ISU Judging System having broken world records 11 times. She was the first woman to score above 150 points in the free skating segment and 200 points in the combined total score. Kim is noted for her rivalry with three-time World champion Mao Asada from Japan, with whom she headlined women's skating for two Olympic cycles until the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
After her retirement from competitive figure skating in 2014, Kim was instrumental in the successful bid to bring the 2018 Winter Olympics to her home country in Pyeongchang. She also had a successful professional skating career, producing and appearing in several ice shows such as All That Skate. With her various sponsorships, Kim remained one of the highest-paid athletes in South Korea even well into her retirement. She was included in the Time magazine's annual list of the World's 100 Most Influential People in 2010 and in several Forbes lists.
Early life
Kim was born on September 5, 1990, in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, in the northern part of the country. A more standard transliteration of her name is "Yeon-a"; when Kim applied for a passport, the official misspelled her given name as "Yu-na" instead of "Yeon-a". Since her competitive days, she has asked international media to refer to her as "Yuna Kim" instead of "Kim Yu-na".Kim was born to her father, Kim Hyeon-seok, who was a business owner, and her mother, Park Mi-hee. She has one older sister. Her mother, whom The Korea Times called "indisputably the No. 1 contributor to Kim's phenomenal success", took an active role in her daughter's skating career from the beginning, driving her to the ice rink each day, attending all of her practices, and acting as her coach, manager, spokesperson, and mentor. She played English cassette tapes in the car to help Kim improve her English skills. Kim's family often struggled to fund her skating expenses; when her father's business was not doing well enough to pay for her lessons, they put up their house as collateral for a bank loan. Kim's father chose to remain out of media attention, choosing to watch her skate on television along with her sister instead of accompanying Kim to international competitions. Both parents, however, attended the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Kim credited both of them with her success as a figure skater. She also named American figure skaters Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen as well as Brian Joubert, Stéphane Lambiel, and Tomáš Verner as her influences.
Kim began skating at the age of five at a local rink with her sister. Former ice dancer Ryu Jong-hyun coached Kim between the ages of seven and ten, and former single skater Shin Hea-sook, who competed for South Korea at the 1980 Winter Olympics, guided her between 10 and 12 years old. Kim later said that Ryu and Shin both helped her, from the start of her skating career, to become who she was both technically and spiritually. Ryu suggested to Kim's mother, who noticed early on that there was something special about her daughter's skating, that Kim may receive formal training in figure skating. In an interview from 2011, she gave credit to her coaches for noticing and developing her aptitude for skating, who also told her that "her muscles and body structure are perfect for skating". Kim herself added, "I was born with a good instrument, maybe more so than the talent". Ryu cited Kim's work ethic, especially her hard work, dedication, and commitment to practice for her success. She landed her first triple toe loop jump at the age of 10 and, except for the triple Axel, she was able to perform all types of triple jumps cleanly two years later. During her middle school years, her boots often did not fit her as she matured, suffering many injuries, including a period when she had to rest for a month after a pelvic-muscle injury.
Competitive skating career
Early career
In 2002, Kim competed internationally for the first time at the Triglav Trophy in Slovenia, where she completed five triple jumps and won the gold medal in the novice competition, the first international victory for a Korean woman. A year later, at age 12, she won the senior title at the South Korean Championships, becoming the youngest skater ever to do so, a record not broken until 2016 by 11-year-old You Young. She also placed first at the 2003 Golden Bear of Zagreb, a novice competition. Kim won three consecutive South Korean championships between 2003 and 2006.Junior career
2004–05 season: Junior debut
In the 2004–05 season, Kim competed as a junior during the ISU Junior Grand Prix. She won a gold medal at the 2004 JGP Hungary, her first international competition, and became the first Korean skater to win a Junior Grand Prix event. She placed first in both competition segments, the short program and the free skating program, scoring a combined total of 148.55 points. At her second competition, the 2004 JGP China, Kim was in fourth place after making four errors in her short program, but rebounded in the free skate to take second place overall with 131.22 points. She qualified for the 2004–05 Junior Grand Prix Final, where she won the silver medal with an overall score of 137.75 points. It was the first time that a Korean skater had won a medal at the event.At the 2005 South Korean Championships, she won her third consecutive gold medal. In her free skate, she successfully executed a combination of two triple jumps for the first time but fell on her triple Lutz. She was ineligible to compete at the World Championships, because she did not meet the required age minimum of 15 years old. She won the silver medal at the 2005 World Junior Championships with 158.93 points overall. Coming from behind after the short program, where she had finished in sixth place, she scored 110.26 points in her free skate, with her "secret weapon" of a triple-triple jump combination. It was the first time that a Korean skater had won a medal at the Junior World Championships and the Junior Grand Prix Final.
2005–06 season: World Junior champion
Kim lacked the corporate sponsorship to pay for her training and participation costs, so she experienced financial difficulties; the Korea Skating Union promised to underwrite her expenses so she could train out of the country. She was not old enough to compete at the 2006 Olympics; instead, she participated in the Olympic torch relay and the 2005–06 Junior Grand Prix, winning both of her competitions in Slovakia and Bulgaria. At the 2005 JGP Slovakia, she finished in first place with 168.83 points overall. At the 2005 JGP Bulgaria, despite a great deal of pain caused by the new skates that she had purchased shortly before the competition, she finished in first place after the short program with 53.45 points. She also came in first place in the free skate, with 99.98 points, and won the gold medal, with 153.43 points overall. At the 2005–06 Junior Grand Prix Final, when she was first in the junior-level ranking and where she was the youngest skater to compete, she earned 57.51 points in the short program despite a minor landing error during her final spin movement. She earned 116.61 points in the free skating program and won the gold medal with an overall score of 174.12 points.At the 2006 South Korean Championships, Kim finished in first place with an overall score of 165.52 points. At the 2006 World Junior Championships, she was the first Korean skater to win the gold medal, scoring 177.54 points overall. Overcoming a ligament injury in her right ankle, Kim finished in first place after the short program with 60.86 points. Kim captivated the audience and won the free skate with 116.68 points, earning 177.54 points overall She was the only skater in the competition who surpassed 100 points in her free skate. This marked the first time a Korean skater had won the Junior Grand Prix Final and the World Junior Championships. It was also the eighth consecutive competition where Kim had finished in either first or second place since 2004 and raised expectations for Korea's chances of winning a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Senior career
2006–07 season: Senior debut and World medal
To prepare for her senior debut in the 2006–07 season, Kim began training with Brian Orser at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club during the summer of 2006 after working there with choreographer David Wilson. According to International Figure Skating, she had lost her confidence and was ready to quit the sport due to her recurring knee injuries and boot problems, so her coach suggested that she train in Toronto. After three months, she decided to make Toronto her permanent base of training, living with her mother in a Korean neighborhood. At first, Orser was reluctant to agree to train her, but he identified with her competitive spirit and felt he could not turn down the challenge. According to International Figure Skating, Kim's move was controversial and her former coach publicly criticized it. Orser reported that one of his goals as her coach was to make her laugh and that he was instructed by Korean skating officials to "make Kim a happier skater". She was Orser's first real student.Kim made her senior international debut and Orser made his coaching debut at the 2006 Skate Canada International, where she became the first Korean skater to place at a senior Grand Prix event by winning a bronze medal, placing first in the short program and fourth in the free skate, with a total overall score of 168.48 points. At the 2006 Trophée Éric Bompard, Kim became the first Korean skater to win a senior Grand Prix competition, placing first in both the short program and free skate, with a total of 184.54 points, her personal best up to that point.
Her Grand Prix performances qualified Kim for her first Grand Prix Final, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She became the first Korean skater to both medal at and win a Grand Prix Final. She placed third in the short program and first in the free skate, earning a total of 184.20 points and defeating silver medalist Mao Asada. After the short program, Kim admitted that she was worried about her performance due to some back pain, but that she was satisfied with her results. After the free skate, she told reporters that she was surprised by the outcome and was pleased to compete with the Japanese skaters present, calling them "strong competitors".File:Kim 2006 Skate Canada FS crossover.jpg|thumb|left| Kim performing her free skate to The Lark Ascending at the 2006 Skate Canada|alt=Refer to caption
Kim withdrew from the 2007 South Korean Championships, because she was diagnosed in January 2007 with the early stages of lumbar disc herniation, involving the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae in her waist. According to her doctor, the vertebrae pushed back and touched her nerve and the disc between her first coccyx and fifth lumbar vertebrae, which was swollen and ready to develop into a hernia. He also said that two-to-four weeks of physical therapy would successfully treat it. She began treatment, which focused on reinforcing her waist muscles and maintaining her body balance, in Seoul immediately after her diagnosis. She was unable to train during and afterwards her treatment. Kim was scheduled to compete at the 2007 Asian Winter Games, but had to withdraw.
Kim was selected to compete at the 2007 World Championships in Tokyo. Despite being on pain killers for chronic back pain and with little treatment, she won the short program with 71.95 points, setting the highest short program score ever under the ISU Judging System. Rosaleen Kaye of Golden Skate stated that Kim performed her short program "with an intensity and maturity far above her years". Kim told reporters that it was not one incident that exacerbated her back pain, although her short program put burden on her lower back. She also was nursing a tailbone injury. Kim opened her short program with a triple flip-triple toe loop combination with enough speed to carry her out of both jumps.
According to Kaye, "Elegance and superior skating skills were brilliantly displayed" during Kim's free skate at the World Championships. She accomplished her triple flip-triple toe loop combination "with wonderful flow as well as with a big smile" and her straight line footwork sequence was "light and lyrical". Kim also fell on both of her triple Lutz jumps and she performed a triple Salchow-double toe loop combination which received no credit because the judges considered it as a fourth combination jump. She finished fourth in the segment, with 114.19 points, and third overall, with a total of 186.14 points. Despite her mistakes, Kim later said that she had learned a great deal from her fellow skaters and during her first season as a senior skater. She said, after winning the gold medal at the 2009 World Championships, that even though she did her personal best in the short program in 2007, she did not do as well in the free skate.