February 26, 2010
Kim Yu-na Wins Gold in Figure Skating
By JULIET MACUR
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - After months of playing it cool, saying the pressure to win the Olympic gold medal had not weighed on her, Kim Yu-na of South Korea finally let her emotion show on Thursday.

For the first time, she stood on the ice after her performance and felt her lips start to quiver. As flowers and stuffed toys rained down from the stands, her tears began to flow.

“I can’t believe this day has finally come for me,” said Kim, who was taken aback by her own crying.

That emotional release, so long in the making, quickly ended as soon as Kim, the reigning world champion in women’s figure skating, got a glimpse of her score.

When the numbers 150.06 popped up on the scoreboard, her mouth dropped open in delight. It was a world record, which had broken her old record by a whopping 16.11 points. Though her longtime rival Mao Asada had yet to skate, Kim had all but clinched the gold medal. She had made herself untouchable.

For her two unforgettable, nearly perfect performances at these Olympics, the 19-year-old Kim had scored a record total of 228.56 points, more than 23 points ahead of her nearest pursuer.

As the eyes of her home country focused on her, Kim, the most famous celebrity there, became South Korea’s first Olympic champion in figure skating. Before Kim’s victory, her country hadn’t won a medal in any Winter Olympic event but speedskating.

“I still can’t believe the score that I received,” Kim said. “I’m really surprised. It’s almost as close as the men’s score.”

Asada, the 2008 world champion, won the silver, with 205.50 over all. Joannie Rochette, skating just four days after her mother’s sudden death, won the bronze. She received 202.64 points over all.

Mirai Nagasu, the 2008 United States national champion, was fourth, with 190.15 points. Rachael Flatt, the reigning national champion, was seventh, with 182.49.

While each of those skaters had moments of brilliance, Kim - who skated to Gershwin’s “Concerto in F” - was the only one to have an entire four minutes of it.

Wearing a royal blue dressed that fluttered in the wind, she sped atop the ice, seamlessly incorporating triple jumps into her complex routine, as if it were as natural as breathing. Her complicated footwork left gigantic, loopy scribbles all over the ice, but as she moved, she appeared to be floating. She punctuated the entire routine with a sweet smile.

At the end, the crowd leaped to its feet to celebrate her, drowning out the announcer’s every word. And Asada was the unfortunate skater who had to follow that.

Performing right after Kim’s monumental marks appeared, Asada tried to hold herself together, but her focus began to chip away as each note of Rachmaninoff’s “Bells of Moscow” played. One of her jumps - the triple flip - received a downgrade, meaning she failed to complete enough of the rotation. Then, as she prepared for a triple toe loop, her skate nicked the ice. She singled that jump. She had landed two triple axels, but even those jumps, which are rare for women, could not help her.

When she was done, her face appeared blank. She and Kim had been rivals since they were junior skaters, with all their previous performances building up to these Games. Here, Asada was thought to be the only skater who could challenge Kim for the gold medal.

“I did everything I can,” Asada said. “To complete both triple axels well at the Olympics was one good thing about my performance. But I am not happy with the rest of my performance. I do feel regretful.”

Rochette, the 2009 silver medalist at the world championships, was expected to contend for the silver or bronze. She was hoping to become the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic medal since Elizabeth Manley won the silver at the 1988 Calgary Games.

Her quest for a spot on the podium, however, was overshadowed by the events that unfolded in the wee hours of Sunday morning when her mother, Therese Rochette, died of a massive heart attack. Therese Rochette, whom Joannie called her “No. 1 fan,” was 55.

Skating to “Samson and Delilah” and with the crowd behind her, Joannie Rochette had some troubles on her triple flip, triple lutz and a double axel combination. She had come close to winning the silver medal, but took a bronze after a week of raw emotion and grief.

“I feel so proud, and the result didn’t matter,” Rochette said. “But I’m happy to be on the podium. That was my goal here. It’s been a lifetime project with my mom, and we achieved that.”

As the flags of the medal winners rose high above the ice during the victory ceremony, one was conspicuously missing: the American flag. For the first time since 1964, an American woman did not win a figure skating medal at the Winter Games.

The expectations were low for the team’s two competitors here, Flatt and Nagasu, because no American female skater has won a medal at the past three world championships. But the two tried their best to keep the medal streak going.

Flatt, 17, performed as if she had nothing to lose. All week, she had walked around with a wide smile, just happy to be a part of these Games. Recently, she also received her first college acceptance letter, from Stanford.

So after she stayed on her feet in the free skate, Flatt pumped her arms a few times and flashed a look of amazement. When her score of 117.85 popped up as she sat in the kiss-and-cry area, though, she looked disappointed. Two of her triple flips, as it turned out, had been downgraded and were given fewer points than she had expected.

“I thought the flips were fine when I watched the playback,” Flatt said. “I guess it’s just something to work on for worlds.”

Nagasu turned out to be the surprise of the night. Her triple jumps, which had been plagued by downgrades, were clean, just when it counted the most. At 16, she did not expect to finish so high in the standings.

“I’m just happy that I could finish right behind those top competitors because it’s my first big competition” Nagasu said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to keep up the USA trend of making the podium. I hope I can make it up at the next Olympics.”

Kim, though, came into these Olympics well aware that the unexpected can happen here. She had watched videotapes of Olympics past, to see favorites fail to win - just as her coach, Brian Orser of Canada, had experienced when he won silver at the 1988 Calgary Games. He came into his home country’s Olympics as the world champion, but the American Brian Boitano won instead.

Kim also had seen underdogs have their day. She recalled that the American Sarah Hughes had won gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, going from fourth to first in the free skate.

But this time, there was nothing unexpected.

These Olympics, as nearly everyone had thought, were Kim’s for the taking. She has been the dominant skater of the past two seasons, losing just one competition since finishing third at the 2008 worlds. And, as she showed here, she just keeps getting better.

On Thursday, Kim ended the night with the South Korean flag wrapped around her, smiling as camera flashes twinkled in the stands like a sea of fireflies.

“I have accomplished the biggest, most important goal in my life,” she said. “I am going to enjoy this moment for a while.”