New Emissary » Kim Yu-na

Athletes New Atomic Bombs

Ulara Nakagawa — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:29:22 +0000

International sports enthusiasts may have enjoyed more than their usual fix with all of the coverage of last month’s winter Olympics. In particular, it seems the level of interest surrounding female figure skating queens Kim Yu-na and Mao Asada, (which I too am guilty of), is still gliding along full-force, and will likely accelerate again and soar to dizzying levels later this month at the World Figure Skating Championships in Torino, Italy.

I wonder then, how fans of top athleticism and women in sports may assess certain recent news out of Iran.

Late last week, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad making some pretty stand-out comments regarding his country and sports. According to the country’s official news organization, its leader proclaimed that nuclear weapons are not needed in nations that have culture and civilization. And with a pretty noteworthy metaphor, he went onto say that Iran’s atomic bombs are in fact its ‘youth and athletic heroes.’

Thus, to ‘arm’ his country accordingly, Ahmadinejad has planned to increase his country’s sports budget by five times in the next year. ‘We must not only earn the Asian championships but also think about becoming world champions,’ he said.

I find this a bit strange, as women in Iran are not permitted to attend sports events. How does the nation plan, with its apparent new form of combat weaponry, to compete on the world stage with half of its people unable to participate in the forum?

Asian Ice Queens

Ulara Nakagawa — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:43:25 +0000

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.

Money and Time Make Gold

Ulara Nakagawa — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:30:10 +0000

Sometimes I suspect that I’m just being told somebody is the brightest new star to be found not because they really are the best out there, but because they’re good-looking enough to be featured on an album cover or the side of a bus or have personalities outlandish enough to entice audiences. The sensationalism of talent in the arts seems on an upward trend–especially when considering factors like increasing media competition and the surging popularity of various reality TV talent shows.

However, this wasn’t the case when I last week tuned into the Olympics and saw the much-heralded star of women’s figure skating set new records with her short program. Nineteen-year-old Kim Yu-na, or ‘Queen Yu-na,’ as she’s affectionately referred to by South Koreans, blew my mind with her mesmerizing and record-breaking performance. And it seems only natural that the pretty and charismatic athlete would have countless endorsements in her native country and fans around the world.

However, it turns out that–at least according to a recent feature in Time magazine–there’s an interesting twist even in the case of Asian natural-born talents like Kim making it to the world stage.

Along with China and Japan, it seems that South Korea has very little to offer potential ice queens (and kings) in terms of resources for success. The article quotes Jae Eun Chung, director of the Korean Skating Union, acknowledging this, and noting that along with too few skating rinks and training programs, her country’s main weakness is a lack of qualified top-level coaches.

Kim Yu-na herself relocated to Toronto back in 2007 to train with former Canadian Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser. And clearly, it has paid off. Chung says of the move, ‘I think Yu-Na improved so much in Canada…The Korean culture values being quiet, but in figure skating, you need to express various feelings. She improved her confidence and her expression.’

But with Pyeongchang’s bid now in (again) for the 2018 Winter Games and this time showing real promise, it looks like South Korea is ready to commit to making big improvements. President Lee Myung-bak has reportedly told South Korean Olympic Committee president Y.S. Park that he wants to discuss the topic and what ways the government can help. And Park himself has said all it’ll take is money and time to keep it domestic and bring in more medals–both of which his country is ready to expend.