The Story of Kim Yuna : 2009-2010 Season

Introduction

Going into the Olympic season, Yu-Na had almost everything she could have hoped for. She was the reigning World and Four Continents champion, and favorite to win the Olympics in Vancouver. Her wins had propelled her popularity in South Korea to an all-time high. During the off-season, Michelle Kwan–who had officially confirmed she would not be making another run at the Olympics–had chosen to return to show skating, at Yu-Na's own show. It had obviously been very special for Yu-na as she introduced the skater who had so deeply inspired her at the 1998 Olympics.

Now it was time for Yu-Na's Olympics. But what kind of Olympics would it be? Many a favorite had gone into the Olympics and not made it to the top spot, or sometimes, even on the podium at all. Kurt Browning had won Worlds four times and yet come away from the Olympics empty handed. Michelle Kwan had won multiple titles of every competition, including Olympic medals–which had never been gold. Irina Slutskaya and Sasha Cohen had both been favored for gold at the 2006 Olympics, but had come away disappointed. It was not unusual for favorites to falter and for skaters to perform to less than their potential, but the greatest glory in the figure skating sport was reserved for those who came to life on those Olympic rings. There was nothing quite like Olympics magic, which could reverberate across generations, much as Brian Boitano's 1988 Olympic gold-winning performance had inspired Michelle Kwan, and Michelle Kwan's excellent 1998 Olympic silver-winning performance inspiring Yu-Na. What kind of performance would Yu-Na give at the 2010 Olympics, and could it inspire those out there the way she had been inspired?

As the current record holder of the highest score in the short program, long program, and total score, Yu-Na might have been expected to simply do what she had been doing all along, and coast to the Olympic gold. But that was not what she chose to do. One of her first decisions was to change her famous triple flip/triple toeloop combination for a harder one, the triple lutz/triple toeloop. She would be attempting this in the short program and in the long program. No ladies Olympic champion had yet won with a triple/triple combination in the short program, but Yu-na's consistency with the triple/triple was such that she had elevated the difficulty, and the pressure, of the short program.

In addition, the triple lutz/triple toe was one of the hardest combinations one could do, other than a triple lutz/triple loop, which no one, not even Miki Ando, could get ratified under the strict standards of the ISU anymore. Though the difficulty of combinations were not properly rewarded at this time, as Yu-Na received no increase in base value for attempting a harder combination, it was one of many ways she was challenging herself and elevating her game for the Olympics.

In response to the edge “attention” calls that she had gotten on her triple flip last season, Yu-Na also wanted to make sure she would not get them this season. In pursuit of perfection, she did not want even the slightest deduction holding down her scores.

The other tactic that Yu-Na chose was that of increasing the amount of difficult transitions into and out of her jumps, which made the jump far harder to execute, but increased the scoring potential in terms of Grade of Execution. A properly executed double axel out of a difficult Ina Bauer entrance would receive higher points than a properly executed double axel. Yu-Na had incorporated this into her programs as a junior, and which first propelled her to success with Tango de Roxanne. For the Olympic season, she and her team exponentially increased the difficulty of her jumps by adding difficult entrances and creative exits to almost all of them. The reward was great, but so were the risks, because it made the jumps so much more difficult to execute.

The group of contenders vying for the 2010 Olympics was deeper than any group than before, and many had the benefit of previous Olympic experience. In fact, 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen was returning to competition in a bid to make her third Olympics team. She was assigned the 2009 Trophee Eric Bompard and Skate America, which coincidentally would be Yu-Na's Grand Prix events as well. The pressure would be intense at Trophee Eric Bompard, as 2008 World champion Mao Asada, having fallen to 4th at the 2009 Worlds, was selected for that event (Yu-Na and Mao normally did not compete against each other on the Grand Prix since they were usually seeded in the top 3, and would first meet at the Grand Prix Final). During an Olympic season, an ordinary Grand Prix event would take on heightened importance. But it would still be nothing compared to the Olympics.

2007 World champion and 2009 World bronze medalist Miki Ando seemed to have shaken off the issues that had derailed her in the season after she won Worlds, and could be poised for another run. She had had a terrible 2006 Olympics experience, but she might have put those issues behind her. 2006 World Champion Kimmie Meissner was planning to return to competition after injuries had derailed her the past two seasons. 2009 World silver medalist Joannie Rochette was looking to win a medal at the Olympics in her home country, and also had the added benefit of having competed at the 2006 Olympics. Finnish skater Laura Lepisto was looking to build off an impressive season the year before, having won the European title over Carolina Kostner. Kostner had had a disappointing Olympic experience in her home country in 2006, but she could never be counted out, despite wildly varying results year to year at Worlds. Finally, young skaters like Mirai Nagasu and Rachael Flatt, though neither had ever medaled at Worlds, were looking to make their first Olympic team and keep the rapidly dimming hopes of keeping a very long US Olympic medals streak in the ladies alive.

Everywhere you looked there were skaters with world titles, world medals, and even Olympic medals, intending to make a run at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Would those skaters with Olympic experience rise to the top? Or would those new to the Olympics, Yu-Na Kim and Mao Asada, deliver as some believed they could have delivered had they been able to compete at the 2006 Olympics except for an age rule? How would the pressure of the impending Olympics affect the skaters on the Grand Prix, and how would the pressure at the Olympics affect them once they were there? No one, not even Yu-Na herself, knew the answers going into the Olympic season. But that's what made it the most exciting, nerve-wracking, thrilling, roller coaster-ride, inspiring season of Yu-na's career, filled with unexpected highs and lows, challenges, struggles, memorable moments, and yes…Olympic magic.