by Bran Herbert

Created on: February 24, 2010

Last year alone, Kim Yu-Na earned upwards of $9,000,000 from her endorsing contracts, and her recent performance at the Vancouver Olympics demonstrate why.  On the ice, Kim's elegant and unique skating style brings the kind of breathless awe that is expected of world-class athletes.  And she figure skates, she says, for one reason: because she loves it.

GROWING UP

Despite numerous obstacles, that kind of passion drove Kim Yu-Na (born 11/05/1990) headlong into a skating career that would galvanize an entire nation.  Kim grew up in the city of Gunpo, which is located in the heavily populated Gyeonggi Province of South Korea.  Gyeonggi Province includes both Seoul and Incheon, which are accessible from Gunpo by taxi and subway.

Her early training was marked by difficulties that included poor skating facilities, financial strain, and time management.  She received extraordinary support from her parents, who struggled to pay tuition for private skating lessons when Kim was just seven years old.  Her potential was spotted early on by coaches and onlookers who fueled her competitive nature by encouraging her to continue her training and challenging her to become the best figure skater in the world.

VICTORIES

In February of 2010, Kim achieved that goal when she was ranked first in the world for figure skating by the ISU, an extraordinary achievement for an athlete of any age.

Kim may have jumped into the limelight during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, but her successes elsewhere made her the celebrity figure that she is.  Her last name, meaning "gold", set the tone for her professional skating career.  Her first international competition at the Triglav Trophy (Jesenice, Slovenia) was at age 11, where she took home her first gold for the novice category.  That success was followed by an avalanche of victories for the young figure skater, including eleven national and international championships and five world records as recognized by the ISU Judging System.

AN ICON

Kim is an icon to South Koreans, who view her as a symbol of athletic prowess, artistic grace, and nationalistic pride.  The fact that Kim is skating against Japan's Mao Asada in the 2010 Olympic events makes the competition all the more pressing for South Koreans, who have a long and troubled history with the island country and would view a victory as cause for national celebration.

Despite her stellar success, Kim remains extraordinarily humble.  She regularly donates to charities, including a recent $100,000 donation to the Haiti relief effort, and she single-handedly funds the Korean federation's junior skating program.  She seems genuinely committed to spreading her love for figure skating to South Koreans and the rest of the world.  Besides being a national icon, Kim will likely inspire a new generation of figure skaters in a country where that sport has largely gone unrecognized until now.

THE FUTURE

Everyone is waiting to find out if Kim takes the gold for figure skating at the 2010 Olympic events.  She has already stated that she skates for herself and because she loves it, and will not apologize to anyone if she fails to receive the gold this year, as the Japanese skater Midori Ito did after receiving the silver medal in the 1992 Olympics.

Either way, Kim Yu-Na certainly has a bright future ahead of her.

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