The new search engine for the forum is great(the old one was awful) and I was looking for early mentions of Yuna Kim. The following article came up in a thread and shortly after I saw this thread listed in a "similar threads" listing:
A Young Figure Skater Who Took a Long and Lonely Road
As far as the original article on An Xiangyi, I have a hard time taking it at face value. Seems to be mythologizing to some extent. An Xiangyi to me seems happy enough and I don't think it's just her mother telling her to smile for the camera. Hope she's successful enough to get others to try training in rhythmic gymnastics as a supplement to figure skating.