The 2010 Winter Olympics have jet-propelled two modern ‘royals’ into the international celebrity spotlight: Recently crowned Olympic women’s figure skating gold-medalist Kim ‘Queen Yu-na’ and silver-medalist Mao Asada, who reigns as ‘Princess Mao’ in her native Japan.
Despite the fact that both 19-year-olds already possess the fierce determination, raw talent, charisma and looks to attract wide attention, it seems that the press still loves to pit these two against each other—calling them rivals and drawing out every similarity and difference they can find to make for a story. Or could there actually be some truth in this drama?
A Reuters piece from just a couple of days ago had me wondering. It claims with its headline that: ‘Ambitious Asada guns for Kim's world record.’ And, according to it, using phrases like ‘beat her’ and ‘my biggest weapon (referring to the triple axel, which Kim has yet to master in major competition),’ Asada is now determined to break the record set by Yu-na in Vancouver. However, we might keep in mind that Asada’s original words were spoken to Japanese-language sports paper Nikkan Sports—and could have been sensationalized in translation.
Meanwhile, on the other end, a short video titled ‘Mao Asada and Yu Na Kim Montage "Rivals but Friends,”’ is gaining attention with already over 125,000 views on YouTube alone. The (rather cheesy) four-minute sequence also features still-images including not only a photo of the Kim and Asada posing with their arms around each others’ shoulders, but one of them sitting side-by-side in an airplane and another of the two engaging in a series of goofy poses together for a session of the popular Japanese pastime—purikura, (or sticker photos).
With this evidence, I’d guess that a lot of the rivalry is just healthy competition or media puffery and that these two probably have a lot of reasons to be friends.
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levi
Well a recent article in Time Magazine by Alice Park characterized Kim and Asada’s ascent as an “Asian Invasion” complete with militaristic overtones. I don’t believe the girls are friends but Brian Orser has personally characterized Kim and Asada’s relationship as cordial and respectful. He believes that the 2 girls have helped each other develop into better skaters through their competition. Make no mistake: the sports rivalry between Korea and Japan is real and it is heated. But no more heated than say Red Sox-Yankees or Pittsburg-Carolina in the US. They’re both sublime skaters and wonderful young ladies, here’s to many more years of the rivalry!
Jay
In an interview on a popular Japanese variety show last year. The host asked about her relationship with Asada, she stated that the media portrayal of their rivalry and the fans clashing views have distanced their relationship. She once stated that Asada was the closest friend out of all the skaters due to their similar age and interests, and often shopped together when she went to Japan.