Yuna Kim announces return to competition--retirement after Sochi

Serious Business said:

That makes no sense. The majority of IOC members aren't even Olympic participants! Of those who were Olympic participants, there are plenty who only competed in one game, many who didn't win gold, and some who didn't even win any medals at all. If Olympic achievement is somehow necessary for being an IOC member, Ms. Kim already has all the credentials she needs.

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I'm on my phone so it's hard to cut and past but an article that unread from a Korean paper, the hankyoreh...website han.co.ur ends with this sentence "i would like to become IOC member. I will do my best in Sochi Olympic to become IOC member"

The olympic charter states "if the candidate is proposed as an active athlete in the meaning of rule 16.1.1.2, such candidate must have been elected or appointed to the IOC athletes commission no later then the edition of the games of the Olympiad or the olympic winter games following the olympic games in which such candidate last participated."

To me that means she needs to compete to qualify for the IOC as its too late to don it based on the Vancouver Olympics.

I think she will do just fine. This isn't like trying to qualify on the US Women's gymnastics team. Although Kim is probably still among the world's best, South Korea doesn't have a deep team. She will be on the team.

I am surprised by this news - really expected that she would say she is done. I am thrilled to see her compete again and do really hope she enjoys it too.

OT: I feel bad for the gymnasts mentioned above and also for Janet Evans ... but back to Yuna...can't wait for news on coaching and etc!

I would love to see Sasha and Joannie Rochette return but I guess that is a pipe dream.

^^ Well, return of Joannie doesn't seem that implausible. She and SC's interviews thrown in Spring sounded very serious.

I am one of those people who is not too thrilled with Yuna's decision to return to competitons because I feel that that decision was greatly influenced by what Korean onlookers were saying about her during the last month's controversy she was involved in with a professor. It is because she said she made her final decision last week that makes me think of all the comments made about her by the Korean people who said after seeing her endorsing so many different products and appear all over the place other than competitions made them confused whether she was a TV entertainer or an athlete last June probably caused her to announce her decision much earlier than we had expected her to. That's why I am not convinced Yuna is happy with her decision to continue competing 'cause that goes against EVERYTHING she has honestly shared with us in all her interviews following the Olympics. It is a fact that Yuna said that she shuttered at the thought of going back to competing in interviews after interviews she gave after she won the Olympic gold. She couldn't possibly have made that decision to make herself happy because I am positive that if she did not have her own agency to look after or if there was at least one other Korean figure skater who had the capability of medaling consistenly at international competitions, she would not have made the decision to return to competitions that she herself has admitted over and over again that she NEVER enjoyed being in just yesterday.

I think as a young child, winning the top spot had motivated Yuna to continue with her skates despite all the hardship she faced as a Korean skater and as a teenager, winning the hearts of her countrymen motivated her to do her best, but now, I'm afraid that it might be her fear of losing many different things that she's so accustomed to that's making her do what she said she's pretty much always dreaded doing. IMO, Yuna doesn't need to sacrifice her desire to live a freer life and what's left of her joints any further just to please her countrymen, her business partners, her peers, and her fans 'cause she's done SO MUCH for many different people already by simply being a hard worker born with good instruments and a generous heart. I would've been a lot happier for Yuna had she decided to start living for herself much more than for others now 'cause I don't think it's good for her to live in bondage to the demands of corporate world and expectations of her countrymen. Plus, she's given her fans so many memorable programs already and she could continue to do that at ice shows alone. I think it's also unhealthy for her to care too much what people say about her and she shouldn't care what I say either unless she finds it helpful. I also don't want to see her end up having operations like the ones Michelle Kwan, Naomi Nari Nam, Tara Lipinski, and others had because they jumped too many times. Oh, both the blessing and the curse of being the lone phenomenal Korean figure skater Yuna is! Anyways, I hope everything turns out for the best for her.

whatchamacallit said:

I am one of those people who is not too thrilled with Yuna's decision to return to competitons because I feel that that decision was greatly influenced by what Korean onlookers were saying about her during the last month's controversy she was involved in with a professor.

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I disagree. Yu-Na's weathered a lot worse so-called controversies, and committing yourself to 2 years worth of training and competing over a story that was going to die down in a week is just ridiculous.

That's why I am not convinced Yuna is happy with her decision to continue competing 'cause that goes against EVERYTHING she has honestly shared with us in all her interviews following the Olympics. It is a fact that Yuna said that she shuttered at the thought of going back to competing in interviews after interviews she gave after she won the Olympic gold.

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Yes, it's a fact that she said she felt that way at that moment in time. And since then, she's changed her mind. She's ready to compete again. I don't see how that is all that shocking or unprecedented. Katarina Witt retired and came back. Midori Ito retired and came back. More recently, Johnny Weir took 2 years off and is coming back. Plushenko, Shen/Zhao, all retired and then came back. All these skaters decided they had enough of competing...and then decided they wanted to compete again. But somehow, Yu-Na's not allowed to change her mind...? Yu-Na is all younger than them when they decided to come back, btw.

She couldn't possibly have made that decision to make herself happy because I am positive that if she did not have her own agency to look after or if there was at least one other Korean figure skater who had the capability of medaling consistenly at international competitions, she would not have made the decision to return to competitions that she herself has admitted over and over again that she NEVER enjoyed being in just yesterday.

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You're exaggerating her dislike of competition. Yu-Na never liked the pressure of (always) being expected to win, but she was able to set that aside and she enjoyed performing at those competitions, doing her best, getting the applause of the audience, hanging out with skaters at galas, and yes, standing on top of the podium. She loves being called the 2010 Vancouver Olympic champion. There are plenty of things she liked about competing.

I doubt that her agency factored in to this. Sure, she wants Korean skaters to have more opportunities in the future, and her being on the Korean skating team will help them, but she was perfectly honest when she said that she also came back because she thought she would regret having retired because of the fear of pressure. I admire her for her honesty and for her decision to face that pressure instead of walking away from it.

As we''ve often said in one way or another, YuNa's position is virtually unique. There have been great skaters before, but they have generally sprung from a program of excellent skaters and coaches. YuNa is the only great or even good Korean skater in history so far. (Chen Lu is probably the only comparable skater in terms of high international achievement combined with the lonely splendor of her excellence in her country.) YuNa has no predecessor in her nation and thus far no successor. She has no coaching program there. She is also the fountainhead of skating fandom in Korea. This makes hugely difficult to understand or even guess at the pressures on her and the factors that motivate her. The closest I can get is to hope that her second competitive career is as satisfying and enjoyable to her as possible.

It seems a lot of people are conflating Yuna's feelings about competitive skating with her aversion to the publicity and pressure it brings. They are not the same. She does dislike the pressure a bit more than other skaters and even publicly expresses it, but that's because the kind of public pressure she faces is very unique and very oppressive. Not even Michelle Kwan at the height of her popularity drew this much public scrutiny and bore so much expectations from her own country.

I think Yuna very much enjoys skating, performing and competing. What else do people think helped her withstood the monstrous level of expectation and pressure she endured in her senior years? If she had nothing internally to drawn on for strength and motivation, how did she not cave in to it all and just collapse? Her competitive fire did weaken after the Olympics--that's only understandable. But there's no reason that she can't possibly want to compete for herself again. Plenty of former champs, Olympics and otherwise, return after a hiatus. I see nothing improbable about her motivation. As for physical preparation--I can see her learning from her 2011 Worlds performance, and from other athletes who attempted an Olympic comeback. She knows she has to be well prepared.

jaylee said:

I disagree. Yu-Na's weathered a lot worse so-called controversies, and committing yourself to 2 years worth of training and competing over a story that was going to die down in a week is just ridiculous.

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You're free to disagree all you want, but if you read more carefully what I wrote, jaylee, I said, ‘I feel that that decision was greatly influenced by what Korean onlookers were saying about her’ and not the controversy itself. It’s obvious to me that Yuna greatly cares about what Korean people think of her just by looking at what happened last month and those kinds of comments made by the Korean onlookers weren’t exclusive to the last month’s controversy, btw, ‘cause it has been over a year since Yuna has competed in skating competitions. Thus, it’s only natural for people who follow her casually to think she spent most of her off-year, especially the latter part, endorsing various products and attending events that had little or at all to do with figure skating.

Yes, it's a fact that she said she felt that way at that moment in time. And since then, she's changed her mind. She's ready to compete again. I don't see how that is all that shocking or unprecedented. Katarina Witt retired and came back. Midori Ito retired and came back. More recently, Johnny Weir took 2 years off and is coming back. Plushenko, Shen/Zhao, all retired and then came back. All these skaters decided they had enough of competing...and then decided they wanted to compete again. But somehow, Yu-Na's not allowed to change her mind...? Yu-Na is all younger than them when they decided to come back, btw.

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I don’t think I ever said that Yuna is not allowed to change her mind. I can have opinions just like you can, can’t I? Sure Katarina Witt retired and came back to compete at her third Olympics on her own will, but wasn’t she forced to compete at her second Olympics by the gov’t of her country against her will? East Germany was a communist country in 1988, no? I doubt that she had any other choice than to train for her second Olympics. Anyways, it matters little to me who retired and came back as I only said what I did about Yuna because I know what she said well. I followed her interviews just like any of her other fans did and it was just last year when she said she doesn’t even want to think about competing again without mentioning anything about the pressure other people put on her for her to win in one of her documentaries. She has also said that the idea of her trying out for her second Olympics seemed unimaginable to an interviewer ‘cause it gets particularly difficult for female skaters to perform their best even if they are in their early 20s.

You're exaggerating her dislike of competition. Yu-Na never liked the pressure of (always) being expected to win, but she was able to set that aside and she enjoyed performing at those competitions, doing her best, getting the applause of the audience, hanging out with skaters at galas, and yes, standing on top of the podium. She loves being called the 2010 Vancouver Olympic champion. There are plenty of things she liked about competing.

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As someone who speaks Korean fluently, I don’t think I was exaggerating her dislike of competition at all as I have already mentioned my reasons above as clearly as I can. The fact of the matter is that many of Yuna's skating fans expected her to retire until she announced her decision yesterday because she has plainly expressed that she hates the thought of competing again on more than one occasion. If she has ever expressed like Michelle Kwan did who has often expressed her love of performing in competitions, I would not have been surprised by her decision to return to competitions at all. Maybe I didn’t follow her interviews enough like you must’ve done, but I don’t recall her ever talking about her enjoying the atmosphere of competitions. I’ve heard plenty of times her saying she enjoys skating at ice shows and watching men’s competitions, but not much about her enjoying competing.

I doubt that her agency factored in to this. Sure, she wants Korean skaters to have more opportunities in the future, and her being on the Korean skating team will help them, but she was perfectly honest when she said that she also came back because she thought she would regret having retired because of the fear of pressure. I admire her for her honesty and for her decision to face that pressure instead of walking away from it.

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I actually hope you are right about the reasons why Yuna chose to return to competitions and kudos to her if her decision to return to competitive skating was not at all influenced by anybody else like it was the case for her with her last competition, but only by her own desire to fight off her fears and challenge herself even further. However, I think people would be kidding themselves if they thought she’s getting ready for her next competitions without the mindset of winning the top spot at least in some of them. What would be the point of a world-class athlete such as Yuna training hard for the next two years without having the mindset to capture the gold anyways? In other words, the pressure to win will always be present in her mind no matter what fans tell her or what she tells herself ‘cause after all, she started skating because she was extremely good at it and her great ability to jump well has gradually led her to become ambitious in which the pressure to win was born within and not from anywhere else. Anyways, I just hope she will enjoy competing as much as I will enjoy watching her beautiful skating.

The reason that I did not expect this announcement is not so much that Kim was through with skating but that she seemed to have taken an interesting in "everything else." I can totally see her having a career as a "sports diplomat," involved in public service and/or private benevolence -- the same as I see Michelle Kwan's opportunities, actually. Yu-na has had a taste of life after figure skating -- pitching Korea's bid for the 2018 Olympics, etc. -- and it seemed to me that she liked it. I got a kind of "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?" sort of vibe.

I think Yuna will be challenged by Liza greatly. And while I fully expect Yuna to podium if she is healthy and doing clean combination jumps, the ISU was saying this year they cared more about beautiful edges, transitions, choreography than the jumps. Chan and Caro are the ideals. I think no one is as majestic as Caro when on-close comes a perfect Alissa and perfect Mao.

It is hard to even know what to believe as Yu-Na has contradicted herself. If her coming back makes the rest work harder on 3x3's that is good. I am wondering how Mao's camp feels? I so wanted Mao to have a great season next year after losing her mother. Mao is a favorite of mine and I admire her. So if it helps fire up Mao-Chan, its a good thing. Since Yuna already has a gold, I prefer a newcomer or oldster to win, spread the glory around, but Yuna the person touches me for what she does. Whatever helps her brand and that allows her to help others is good. She will never be a bad skater. We can expect high standards, regardless of placements. I'm anxious to hear what music, etc etc. It is pretty exciting news.

Kat Witt BTW came to 94 Olympics solely so her parents could see her skate live in Olymics. She knew she was not competitive.

sillylionlove said:

I'm on my phone so it's hard to cut and past but an article that unread from a Korean paper, the hankyoreh...website han.co.ur ends with this sentence "i would like to become IOC member. I will do my best in Sochi Olympic to become IOC member"

The olympic charter states "if the candidate is proposed as an active athlete in the meaning of rule 16.1.1.2, such candidate must have been elected or appointed to the IOC athletes commission no later then the edition of the games of the Olympiad or the olympic winter games following the olympic games in which such candidate last participated."

To me that means she needs to compete to qualify for the IOC as its too late to don it based on the Vancouver Olympics.

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Oh, OK. I can see how that could be an added incentive for her to compete again, but I doubt it's the main reason. If her main goal is to be an IOC member, there are other pathways to membership available to someone in her position that won't involve years of training and pressure.

Mathman said:

The reason that I did not expect this announcement is not so much that Kim was through with skating but that she seemed to have taken an interesting in "everything else." I can totally see her having a career as a "sports diplomat," involved in public service and/or private benevolence -- the same as I see Michelle Kwan's opportunities, actually. Yu-na has had a taste of life after figure skating -- pitching Korea's bid for the 2018 Olympics, etc. -- and it seemed to me that she liked it. I got a kind of "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?" sort of vibe.

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Yuna clearly expresses an interest in that side of things. But at the same time, I think she's very cognizant of the fact that she is only young once, and has a limited amount of time in which she can compete for another Olympic medal. She can be a sports minister and join the IOC just fine in her dotage. And in those kinds of leadership positions, age is actually an advantage. I think she's just spending her youth and plotting the rest the way she sees fit.

Well Kat was a cat; she somehow managed to beat Tonya Harding and poor Josee Chouinard from Canada. Mind you had in been COP her triple toe and triple salchow wouldn't cut it. As for Yuna only Yuna knows why she came back. Those who love her competitively sikate will be thrilled. Those who want a new champion won't be so thrilled. And each person comes back or skates on for their own reason. Of course what they say publically may very well be different than what they personally say. ie Natasia Liukin's fall from grace. Shawn johnson's retirement in gymnastics months before Oly trials. janet Evans and Dana Torres failed comebacks. Lovely Miss America answers like Sasha. I did it for myself. i did it for my fans. It wasn't about going to the Olympics it was about the process. it was about doing my best for myself. it was trying and being able to say i gave it all... Too bad we weren't mind readers. Didn't look like Liukin was that happy when she faceplanted. i know I am a cynic but I think there is some truth.

Skater Boy said:

Well Kat was a cat; she somehow managed to beat Tonya Harding and poor Josee Chouinard from Canada. Mind you had in been COP her triple toe and triple salchow wouldn't cut it. As for Yuna only Yuna knows why she came back. Those who love her competitively sikate will be thrilled. Those who want a new champion won't be so thrilled. And each person comes back or skates on for their own reason. Of course what they say publically may very well be different than what they personally say. ie Natasia Liukin's fall from grace. Shawn johnson's retirement in gymnastics months before Oly trials. janet Evans and Dana Torres failed comebacks. Lovely Miss America answers like Sasha. I did it for myself. i did it for my fans. It wasn't about going to the Olympics it was about the process. it was about doing my best for myself. it was trying and being able to say i gave it all... Too bad we weren't mind readers. Didn't look like Liukin was that happy when she faceplanted. i know I am a cynic but I think there is some truth.

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There's almost two years to go before Sochi. Can't we wait before declaring Yuna's come-back a total failure?

Never mind, we're all such skilled mind readers and fortune tellers.

This is my take on Yuna's return:

1. As someone noted, a BIG factor was Yuna's goal of establishing herself as a "sports diplomat" by becoming an IOC Athlete member. I understand that in order to become one, the requirement is that you have to participate in the latest Olympics as an athlete (i.e. Sochi). In fact, some media are reporting that because of this, Yuna had no choice but to return.

2. At the same time, I sincerely believe in Yuna's statement that she does not want to regret later in her life about "what if" - i.e. not participating in the Olympics at the relatively competitive age of 24 just because of pressure. In this regard, the general consensus in Korea is that this particular decision was really Yuna's, and not driven by others.

As a fan, I cannot be more excited, and it will be a treat to watch her perform competitively again for 1 1/2 years. Assuming she is able to regain her form, she has a very good shot at another OGM (if not the favorite), and I expect a marvelous contest between Yuna and one or two Russian Super Babies, who will undoubtedly be in peak form at Sochi.

Krislite said:

There's almost two years to go before Sochi. Can't we wait before declaring Yuna's come-back a total failure?

Never mind, we're all such skilled mind readers and fortune tellers.

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Same thing has happened to Weir, Plushy (multiple times), Lysacek.... Kwan even had her naysayer ( ). It's the offseason, people are going to speculate on what this could mean and what could happen.

YunaBliss said:

This is my take on Yuna's return:

1. As someone noted, a BIG factor was Yuna's goal of establishing herself as a "sports diplomat" by becoming an IOC Athlete member. I understand that in order to become one, the requirement is that you have to participate in the latest Olympics as an athlete (i.e. Sochi). In fact, some media are reporting that because of this, Yuna had no choice but to return.

2. At the same time, I sincerely believe in Yuna's statement that she does not want to regret later in her life about "what if" - i.e. not participating in the Olympics at the relatively competitive age of 24 just because of pressure. In this regard, the general consensus in Korea is that this particular decision was really Yuna's, and not driven by others.

As a fan, I cannot be more excited, and it will be a treat to watch her perform competitively again for 1 1/2 years. Assuming she is able to regain her form, she has a very good shot at another OGM (if not the favorite), and I expect a marvelous contest between Yuna and one or two Russian Super Babies, who will undoubtedly be in peak form at Sochi.

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Queen vs princesses!!!

YunaBliss said:

As someone noted, a BIG factor was Yuna's goal of establishing herself as a "sports diplomat" by becoming an IOC Athlete member. I understand that in order to become one, the requirement is that you have to participate in the latest Olympics as an athlete (i.e. Sochi). In fact, some media are reporting that because of this, Yuna had no choice but to return.

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The Olympic participation requirement only applies to the 15 members in the athletes' commission. And they do not have to be elected during year of the Olympics they participated in. Participation in the preceding Olympic (with respect to Summer/Winter) is enough. For instance, South Korea's current member on the athlete's commission, Dae Sung Moon, was elected to it in 2008. He last participated in the games in 2004.

It's more likely that Yuna plans to run for the athlete's commission in 2018. At that point, Dae Sung Moon's term would've already ran out in 2016. While I can't find any rule against a country having two members on the athletes' commission, I suspect it's just not done. She's going to have to wait for Moon's term to run out. Thus, if she's to get elected to the athletes' commission (instead of the myriad other ways she could become an IOC member), she'd have to participate in the 2014 games.

I just don't buy that this is a main reason for her participation in Sochi. All this for a shot at an 8 year term on a committee? I think that's just a bonus and a potential path she may take after Sochi.

whatchamacallit said:

You're free to disagree all you want, but if you read more carefully what I wrote, jaylee, I said, ‘I feel that that decision was greatly influenced by what Korean onlookers were saying about her’ and not the controversy itself. It’s obvious to me that Yuna greatly cares about what Korean people think of her just by looking at what happened last month and those kinds of comments made by the Korean onlookers weren’t exclusive to the last month’s controversy, btw, ‘cause it has been over a year since Yuna has competed in skating competitions. Thus, it’s only natural for people who follow her casually to think she spent most of her off-year, especially the latter part, endorsing various products and attending events that had little or at all to do with figure skating.

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Again, why was what Korean "onlookers" said about her lately any worse than what was said about her during controversies in the past (some which were way worse than anything that happened in the last year)? It wasn't. Therefore, why would Yu-Na care so much that it triggered a decision to commit herself to full-time training and competing for 2 years?

I didn't miss what you said about the decision being influenced by Korean onlookers and what they said about her and not the controversy itself, but that's a very minor distinction (what they said about her was triggered by the controversy, so it is impossible to separate the two). I also don't see much justification for why you believe she was "greatly influenced" by the Korean people. Yu-Na appreciates their support, and at times had expressed a need for distance from them, but I don't recall that she was ever greatly influenced by them in her major decision making or goal setting in the past. She made it clear in her pursuit of the OGM that she was skating for herself first--and some people actually took that quote out of context to assume she didn't care about her country.

I don’t think I ever said that Yuna is not allowed to change her mind. I can have opinions just like you can, can’t I?

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I don't think I ever said you couldn't state your opinion. I just said I disagree, and as you say, I have the right to disagree. And you have the right to disagree back, etc.

Sure Katarina Witt retired and came back to compete at her third Olympics on her own will, but wasn’t she forced to compete at her second Olympics by the gov’t of her country against her will? East Germany was a communist country in 1988, no?

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South Korea is not a communist country, so your point is...?

I doubt that she had any other choice than to train for her second Olympics. Anyways, it matters little to me who retired and came back as I only said what I did about Yuna because I know what she said well. I followed her interviews just like any of her other fans did and it was just last year when she said she doesn’t even want to think about competing again without mentioning anything about the pressure other people put on her for her to win in one of her documentaries. She has also said that the idea of her trying out for her second Olympics seemed unimaginable to an interviewer ‘cause it gets particularly difficult for female skaters to perform their best even if they are in their early 20s.

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Yu-Na faced unbearable pressure going into the 2010 Olympics for more than a year, but she never walked away from it, no matter what her struggles were. She had a goal and a plan and she stuck to it. She needed a break after the Olympics and she's had it. It's not unimaginable that with that long break, she's found some time to breathe and recuperate and prepare mentally, and feels she can face that pressure again.

As someone who speaks Korean fluently, I don’t think I was exaggerating her dislike of competition at all as I have already mentioned my reasons above as clearly as I can. The fact of the matter is that many of Yuna's skating fans expected her to retire until she announced her decision yesterday because she has plainly expressed that she hates the thought of competing again on more than one occasion. If she has ever expressed like Michelle Kwan did who has often expressed her love of performing in competitions, I would not have been surprised by her decision to return to competitions at all. Maybe I didn’t follow her interviews enough like you must’ve done, but I don’t recall her ever talking about her enjoying the atmosphere of competitions. I’ve heard plenty of times her saying she enjoys skating at ice shows and watching men’s competitions, but not much about her enjoying competing.

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Again, you're extrapolating and generalizing a bit too much. She doesn't love the intense expectation that she win all the time. That's not to say that she hates competing all the time, ever. As I said, she enjoys many other side benefits of competing. She always said her dream was to be a skater who will be remembered, who will touch your heart. She couldn't achieve that dream, or the dream of being an Olympic champion, without competing.

Michelle said she loved competing, but there were times when it certainly looked like she didn't. When she wept after coming off the ice for the 1998 Olympics FS? How about 2002 Olympics? Yes, she said she loved competing, but she took breaks as well, skipping the GP in 1998-1999 (and in later seasons). A skater who says she loves competing doesn't love every moment of it. A skater who says she dislikes the pressure of competition enjoys other aspects of competing.