In what way do you think she has changed the course of the sport? Thanks.
Figure skating is a sport where the World Champion or the default #1 skater sets the tone. Just as Ito's arrival in the late 80's accelerated the demise of figures and pushed the ladies figure skating towards a triple jump competition today, the same can be said about Browning and Stojko, whose reign also brought about profound change in men's skating through Quad as well. If we look at the history of this sport over the course of the last 20 years or so, ladies today seem to lag behind technically compared to what they were once capable of in the early 1990's. Aside from the Triple Axel, ladies back then were doing Triple Lutz + Triple Toe almost as a prerequisite to be competitive. The changes brought by Ito and Yamaguchi seemed to take a different direction after Baiul's upset over Kerrigan in the 1994 Olympics, followed by two consecutive years of World Championship where the ladies title was won by women who were deemed 2nd best technically but won due to the artistic impression. From that point on, the ladies and men skating took a somewhat divergent path where the men pushed the envelope technically while the ladies trended towards the precision and more interpretive aspect of figure skating. Triple-Triple for ladies became a seldom occurrence, notwithstanding, Tara Lipinski's brief surge on the scene for about 1 year and half. Aside from the jumps, you can see the men doing so much more than ladies in virtually every aspect of their skating, such as difficult transitions into difficult jumps, fancy footwork, variation on jump's in air positions and etc. Seldom do you see ladies doing any of those.
In the early part of this century, both Olympic Champions in ladies skating, Hughes and Arakawa, were considered surprise winners and neither of them stuck around and thus, failed to provide any leadership in this sport. Arakawa for instance won in Torino with only 5 Triple jumps. Any chance of that happening in men? It is more likely that pigs will grow wings and fly before this happens.
Kim's rise to the top of the Olympic podium in 2010 was widely anticipated with her growth alongside Japan's Mao Asada for several years prior to the Vancouver Olympic. Kim wouldn't be as influential as she is today without Asada being a formidable and long-run competitor that she is. Both ladies, in many ways, worked towards pushing the envelope once again for ladies skating.
After posting some 150+ scores in the Vancouver Olympics LP, Kim's record will serve to inspire the ladies to once again push the envelope technically as opposed to continuously drifting away from the men, who dominate virtually every technical aspect of this sport, which wasn't the case in the 1990's. Back then, many elite male skaters expressed apprehension to compete in the ladies' event knowing that there were women who can actually outjump and outskate them. Adam Rippon of USA recently joked that he finally beats Yu-Na Kim's SP scores at the most recent World Championship. It was a joke but it was also quite telling that elite male skaters once again found admiration for what their female counterparts can do whereas a few years back, men were fighting each over how many quads to land while ladies were struggling to hang on to a Triple Lutz + Double toe combo. The difference can't be more glaring.
When people asked me if I agree with Kim's 150+ scores in Vancouver and what do I think about my time there during the Vancouver Olympic, I tend to think of this question in a philosophical way because I know the significance of this score is not merely some petty arguments between certain fans over whether this is too high or justified or otherwise. The little girls working very hard in their way up in this sport today will look at this and aspire to be the next Yu-Na Kim. To this end, Kim's accomplishment likely have pushed these young kids whom you and I are probably not aware yet to challenge themselves and move the ladies figure skating forward again. I refuse to believe Kristi Yamaguchi and Midori Ito are once a 100 year occurence, just as I refused to believe Elvis Stojko was the only man who could land Quad+Triple even though it was difficult to envision any otherwise back in 1997 when Stojko first landed that combo and shocked the world. Kim's ability to push the envelope technically through her Triple Lutz + Triple Toe combos and as well as her unique ability to inspire and draw people to look at her while she is on ice will definitely inspire the young girls to change and to be like that. This doesn't mean Kim is a perfect skater, such perfection doesn't exist, every skater has their strengths and weaknesses. But changes in this sport takes leadership, not some non-existent perfection. 10 years from now, people are going to remember Kim won the Vancouver Olympics by posting 150+ in her LP but not the fact she didn't do a Triple Loop, which would be at best, a mere footnote in the book of history. It is that 150+ accomplishment that will inspire youngsters to challenge themselves and ultimately push the direction of ladies figure skating towards a new horizon.
She needed the huge/very good 3-3 for the GOE and PCS part in the first place. It was possible that her artistry was somewhat ignored by judges if her 3-3 had not been so consistent with good quality. 