What are Yuna Kim's strongest points as a skater? | Page 8 | Golden Skate

What are Yuna Kim's strongest points as a skater?

Eclair

Medalist
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
You could be correct only if the procedure of making Team South Korea is exactly the same as Team Russia. Then you parallelling with Yag, Plu, Ira, etc. would have merit. Otherwise- it has no accountabillity or sense.

I also think that comparing Yuna and the rules by which the Korean federation decides upon who is sent to worlds with Plushenko and how the Russian Federations decides who to sent to worlds, makes no sense.

But as karne has started to point out: 'I'd have a lot more respect for her if she could actually be bothered to show up to her own Nationals and EARN her place on the international teams, rather than just being handed it.' and
'Plushenko is one of the greatest figure skaters of all time. He still goes to Russian Nationals every year to EARN his place on the team.'
It's only logical to approach those statements with examples of when Plushenko didn't participate at Nationals and still legitimately got sent. Nobody is disputing that Plu fairly earned his spot and just as he played by the rule of russian skating federation to skip nats (for whatever reason) and still get a spot by sending in applications, notices beforehand etc., yuna followed the rules of the korean skating federation and got her spot just as fairly earned.
I'm sure karne has his/her reasons to 'not respect yuna as much', but the fact that she didn't participate at Nats 2011 won't be one of them, since she didn't to anything, the greatest skater of all time - plush - didn't also do.
 

kwanatic

Check out my YT channel, Bare Ice!
Record Breaker
Joined
May 19, 2011
Unfortunate that this thread went from insightful and objective comments to straight trollery in some instances. :(

From reading through the posts my guess is some people don't like the fact that Yu-Na is a very good competitor who rarely makes a mistake big enough to knock her off the top. I get that. Oftentimes dislike is bred from success: you want your favorite, Skater A, to win yet Skater B always seems to come out on top. Chances are at some point you'll get annoyed with Skater B which is understandable.

Yu-Na comes out on top 9 times out of 10. I can admit sometimes I disagree with the scores she receives (at times they seem too high) but never once have I disagreed with the outcome of her winning. I think it's very fair to say that Yu-Na has earned everything she's accomplished. I can't think of one instance where the validity of one of her wins can be called into question.

So people may be annoyed with her winning all of the time, which as I said is understandable especially if you are rooting for someone else to win...but no one can (legitimately) dispute the fact that she deserved to win. To me that means you may not like her, but you have to respect her.
 

torren

Rinkside
Joined
May 29, 2013
How do you know she wasn't thrilled with her result? She could just be very introverted and from an upbringing standpoint, doesn't show emotion outwardly easily...

Some people can think that it is cheeky.
She rested for a few seasons, suddenly come back, took gold medal with attitude like "it's nothing"

I do not know her real mind. but that attitude really annoyed me
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
I've learned never to make assumptions about people's feelings from their facial expressions unless I know those people directly. I remember that Greg Louganis always looked impassive and almost expressionless as he dived, yet he later said in his book and in articles that he often felt insecure. No matter what he looked like, he certainly wasn't climbing up that thirty-foot tower thinking, "I'm God's gift to diving. I'm God's gift to diving."

YuNa always seems to look serene, which might mean something or nothing. By contrast, legendary gymnast Olga Korbut was so expressive that she could have acted out a complete story in a silent movie. It's just a difference in personality or, as you suggest, in upbringing.

I agree. I'd also like to bring up Nadia Comaneci, who was often criticized for not displaying any emotion during her gymnastics routines. Instead, she expressed her determination and drive through her technical perfection on the balance beam and uneven bars.

Yuna is the same -- not necessarily much facial expression, but her movements say it all.
 

kwanatic

Check out my YT channel, Bare Ice!
Record Breaker
Joined
May 19, 2011
Some people can think that it is cheeky.
She rested for a few seasons, suddenly come back, took gold medal with attitude like "it's nothing"

I do not know her real mind, that attitude really annoyed me

To be honest even if that was her attitude (which I don't feel it was but it very well could have been...I don't know her), she's well within her rights to feel like that. Yu-Na is blessed with natural ability and though it may not seem fair, she was able to step away for a year and a half, come back and still dominate the competition.

I thought she was very humble. She could have been a total jerk about it by saying something like, "I knew I could come back here and win easily so I did." It's a jerk thing to say but it's not like it wouldn't be true! Instead she was very respectful by saying she hoped to do her best and that her main intention in competing was to gain Korea the spots it needed for Sochi.
 

MiRé

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Some people can think that it is cheeky.
She rested for a few seasons, suddenly come back, took gold medal with attitude like "it's nothing"

I do not know her real mind. but that attitude really annoyed me

You're making assumptions. Unless you're Yuna herself, you really can't judge what she's feeling.
And sorry that Yuna took gold away from your favorite skater. But name one skater in World 2013 who could've beat Yuna with their performance.
What's done is done. Stop with your nonsense.
 

mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
Some people can think that it is cheeky.
She rested for a few seasons, suddenly come back, took gold medal with attitude like "it's nothing"

I do not know her real mind, that attitude really annoyed me

From many articles and interviews, it's pretty clear Yuna is introverted and has a hard time expressing emotion, especially in public. It just is how she is. When she broke down in tears coming off the ice in Vancouver, it was very clear that she was incredibly relieved, happy, etc and could no longer contain the stress and expectations. She hasn't had that level of expectation sitting on her since.

The question is not intended to be cheeky, it's intended to be a valid question of "do you know her well enough to know that she truly wasn't thrilled or do you just not like the cool facade which could be part of her upbringing or culture"? What attitude? I thought she was a gracious winner, didn't see her rubbing people's faces in it or acting arrogant. Most complaints typically stem from skaters who are overly emotional and/or snarky (Kerrigan, Baiul, etc).
 

Crystallize

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Some people can think that it is cheeky.
She rested for a few seasons, suddenly come back, took gold medal with attitude like "it's nothing"

I do not know her real mind. but that attitude really annoyed me

She could have been completely arrogant, but she wasn't. What do you want her to do? Go and brag about it to everyone? That would probably annoy you, too. :rolleye: I'm sure this win was something for her, not nothing. Like you said, you don't know her real mind. You don't know what she was thinking or feeling. Get over it. That is all.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I agree. I'd also like to bring up Nadia Comaneci, who was often criticized for not displaying any emotion during her gymnastics routines. Instead, she expressed her determination and drive through her technical perfection on the balance beam and uneven bars.

Yuna is the same -- not necessarily much facial expression, but her movements say it all.

It's often more fun to watch if the athlete shows emotion through facial expression, makes eye contact with the spectators, makes an emotional connection with the music. And it's more difficult to do all that while also executing difficult technical feats. So skating (but not gymnastics AFAIK) does write rewards into the rules for these qualities, making up a tiny percentage of the overall score.

Executing the technical feats in time with the rhythm of the music is a larger part of the score, although still only about 10% (more for ice dance).

The fact that skating allows for emotional connection with the audience during the performance, especially on TV since most spectators are not close enough to see facial expression very well if at all, is a plus in terms of popularity.

Ultimately, though, the sporting contests are about the technical execution and not so much about the emotional connection with the audience. The thrill that the sport offers spectators is dazzling technical feats.

Sometimes athletes just need to focus internally on what they're doing technically in order to do it successfully.

And some athletes are just temperamentally introverted. Despite the performance component, this is very true of figure skating. After all, it's an individual sport and takes a lot of internal focus for years of training to develop the necessary skills. (Even more true when figures were part of the equation.
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
And that's why Yuna still scored so high at 2013 Worlds, even though you didn't see much emotion written on her face. As another poster brilliantly put it, her very body movement made it seem like her soul was oozing from her.

I think, actually, the ability to establish an emotional connection WITHOUT the assistance of theatrical facial expressions demonstrates a higher degree of artistic capability. Yuna truly does become the program; it's almost as if the music is coming FROM her rather than TO her.
 

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
I agree. I'd also like to bring up Nadia Comaneci, who was often criticized for not displaying any emotion during her gymnastics routines. Instead, she expressed her determination and drive through her technical perfection on the balance beam and uneven bars.

Yuna is the same -- not necessarily much facial expression, but her movements say it all.

This is a very apt comparison.
 

McIce

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 25, 2010
Can we simply ban Yuna Kim's topics from now on? It's becoming very repetitive and tiring.

Wait two or three years, someone among Gold, Osmond, Russian babies, or Li would be the tiring theme on these boards too.
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Some people can think that it is cheeky.
She rested for a few seasons, suddenly come back, took gold medal with attitude like "it's nothing"

I do not know her real mind. but that attitude really annoyed me

So basically what you're saying is you hate Yuna b/c she won.
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
Unfortunate that this thread went from insightful and objective comments to straight trollery in some instances. :(

From reading through the posts my guess is some people don't like the fact that Yu-Na is a very good competitor who rarely makes a mistake big enough to knock her off the top. I get that. Oftentimes dislike is bred from success: you want your favorite, Skater A, to win yet Skater B always seems to come out on top. Chances are at some point you'll get annoyed with Skater B which is understandable.

Yu-Na comes out on top 9 times out of 10. I can admit sometimes I disagree with the scores she receives (at times they seem too high) but never once have I disagreed with the outcome of her winning. I think it's very fair to say that Yu-Na has earned everything she's accomplished. I can't think of one instance where the validity of one of her wins can be called into question.

So people may be annoyed with her winning all of the time, which as I said is understandable especially if you are rooting for someone else to win...but no one can (legitimately) dispute the fact that she deserved to win. To me that means you may not like her, but you have to respect her.

Great post kwanatic! I can't help but get the impression that some people are just envious. Some of the sentiments expressed on this thread are basically:

She's too lucky--she only goes clean at Olympics and Worlds!
She's wins too easily--she takes a long break, then comes back and wins by landslide!
She's so arrogant--she wins then acts like it's nothing!

OK. Whatever. Such sentiments are lot more revealing about the individual poster than Yuna, though.
 

cooper

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Some people can think that it is cheeky.
She rested for a few seasons, suddenly come back, took gold medal with attitude like "it's nothing"

I do not know her real mind. but that attitude really annoyed me

uh oh. you're pissed because yuna destroyed your favorite skater/s at this year's worlds. it must be painful to expect yuna for not failing eh. let me guess you're one of those who wished she would have a miserable comeback. thank god yuna delivered and i can't stop laughing at you for now.. being the one who is miserable instead. :p
 

Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Can we simply ban Yuna Kim's topics from now on? It's becoming very repetitive and tiring.

Wait two or three years, someone among Gold, Osmond, Russian babies, or Li would be the tiring theme on these boards too.

I don't know. In my many years of skating fandom, I've never seen anything quite like the Mao vs. Yuna fan wars. There are massive cultural and historical forces at work. As much as I hate how it muddles up my Youtube searches (among other pesky effects), I actually kind of enjoy the thought that figure skating can be this important to such huge groups of people. Once Yuna and Mao retire, likely after Sochi, skating's popularity will take a hit in their countries, cutting off considerable revenue and opportunity for all the skaters we like. It's the rivalry that draws attention. This repetitive tiredness is putting food into the mouths of skating babies all over the world. Show some respect for it!
 
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