What are Yuna Kim's strongest points as a skater? | Page 7 | Golden Skate

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

gourry

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
I meant in 2011. Which she didn't. Worlds was her only competition that year.

She got bye because she was then the reigning worlds medalist.
2006- She went to nationals and was champ. -> Became 2007 worlds bronze medalist
2007- She got bye as a reigning medalist. -> Became 2008 worlds bronze medalist
2008- She got bye as a reigning medalist. -> Became 2009 worlds gold medalist
2009- She got bye as a reigning medalist. -> Became 2010 worlds silver medalist
2010- She got bye as a reigning medalist. -> Became 2011 worlds silver medalist
2011- She didn't compete
2012- She went to national 'coz she didn't get bye, then won. -> Became 2013 world gold medalist.


Nothing wrong and nobody was robbed of anything. Everything was done fair and square.

By the way, here in this forum there are a couple of thread about who can possibly win Yuna on world level. And only Mao and Caro are mentioned and even them many say it's not possible. So, in Korea, who is there to possibly win over Yuna and was robbed of a ticket to the Worlds??? Mao and Caro should watch out!! :p
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
What a troll.

What does that have anything to do with Yuna EARNING her spot in 2011? Each federation has its own rules about how a skater earns his/her spot to WC. Perhaps you should study how they do it in Korea first before accusing Yuna of getting special treatment.

Exactly. She never got special treatment.

2005 Junior Worlds--she won Nationals that year and so earned her spot
2006 Junior Worlds--again won Nationals and earned her spot
2007 Worlds--she won 2006 Junior Worlds and so earned her spot
2008 Worlds--she won 2007 Worlds bronze medal and so earned her spot
2009 Worlds--she won 2008 Worlds bronze medal and so earned her spot
2010 Worlds--she was the 2009 World champion and so earned her spot
2011 Worlds--she was the 2010 Worlds silver medallist and the Olympic champion, and so earned her spot
2013 Worlds--she won Nationals, made the minimum TES from NRW Trophy, and so earned her spot

When did she ever not earn her spot to Worlds?
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
honestly, I was unpleasant in it
While skaters are working hard, She was not in competition. she had long hiatus and came back and easily won skaters who efforted much more than her
when look her attitude, it seemed she take her winning for granted... she did't even seemed too thrilled to result. As a long figure skating fan, I felt it's unfair.. dissatisfied in it.

What? Terrible post. You don't realize how hard she trained and practiced to come back?
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
As for her reaction after her skate and after her score, she's won everything already. She's been there, done that. What did you expect? Nevertheless, she had a beaming smile and a stunned reaction (she clasp her hand over her mouth and afterwards was shaking her head in disbelief as she approached the Kiss-and-Cry) which to me showed that she certainly did not expect or took for granted her winning in such a manner.

Great post, Krislite!
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
I meant in 2011. Which she didn't. Worlds was her only competition that year.

I don't think she wanted to skate that year at all, but was pressured to go on behalf of the Korean federation for the Pyeongchang 2018 bid.
 

jaylee

Medalist
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
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.

Actually, while Plushenko's Nationals record is quite impressive, he did not go to Nationals in the 2002-2003 season. I don't recollect why (injury?), but naturally, he still took his place on the team for Euros and Worlds. Which is completely justifiable.

Both Alexei Yagudin and Irina Slutskaya skipped Nationals in their final Olympic seasons. Also not a big deal given that they were the reigning world champion both times.

Oh, and an interesting little fact: according to Elene Gedevanishvili's Wikipedia and ISU bio, she hasn't competed at her own Nationals since 2003-2004. Just FYI.

The USFSA relies highly on Nationals to determine its Worlds team (and always creates controversies when it doesn't follow the results exactly), though by the book, I believe only the National champion is guaranteed the world spot.

However, I don't see why anyone expects other federations to rely as heavily on Nationals as the USFSA does. Not all federations use Nationals to decide their World team, and that's their right. I doubt that the Georgia federation has the resources to put on a Nationals competition, and what would be the point when it's only Elene, and she doesn't even train in Georgia.
 

dyu

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Just because Yuna makes everthing so effortless, it dosen't mean she pull it off easily. No one could imagine how hard she's been training with injuries under poor condition in Korea where there's no rinks for figure skaters so far. She earns her legacy by herself and that makes her great more.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Actually, while Plushenko's Nationals record is quite impressive, he did not go to Nationals in the 2002-2003 season. I don't recollect why (injury?), but naturally, he still took his place on the team for Euros and Worlds. Which is completely justifiable.

Both Alexei Yagudin and Irina Slutskaya skipped Nationals in their final Olympic seasons. Also not a big deal given that they were the reigning world champion both times.

Oh, and an interesting little fact: according to Elene Gedevanishvili's Wikipedia and ISU bio, she hasn't competed at her own Nationals since 2003-2004. Just FYI.

The USFSA relies highly on Nationals to determine its Worlds team (and always creates controversies when it doesn't follow the results exactly), though by the book, I believe only the National champion is guaranteed the world spot.

However, I don't see why anyone expects other federations to rely as heavily on Nationals as the USFSA does. Not all federations use Nationals to decide their World team, and that's their right. I doubt that the Georgia federation has the resources to put on a Nationals competition, and what would be the point when it's only Elene, and she doesn't even train in Georgia.

There's also the fact that both Russia and the U.S. generally have a crowd of contenders of world-class ability for both men's and ladies' competition. It's not a foregone conclusion that any one skater would be the best choice for the world team. The situation in Korea and in Georgia is very different. So if those federations have another way of choosing their world teams, it's not a comparable situation. What's the problem with that?
 

cheerio2

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Regarding Yuna skating two clean programs for the first time at the Olympics, that was anything but luck. Some competitors just THRIVE under lots of pressure. Instead of paralyzing them, the pressure focuses and motivates them. In fact, without any pressure, it could actually be harder for them to focus/concentrate and they could even make more mistakes. Some athletes are just like that, and Yuna is one of them.

Another example is Carly Patterson, the 2004 Olympics gymnastics champion. Carly had an incredibly difficult beam routine, including the most difficult dismount in the world, the double Arabian. Prior to the 2004 Olympics, I had never seen Carly perform her beam routine totally cleanly in any competition, wihout any bobbles or mistakes. She almost never stuck her dismount. At 2004 nationals, she actually fell off the beam twice in two days. But at the Olympics, in both the all around and beam event finals, Carly did two perfect beam routines with zero wobbles and stuck her dismount both times. It was quite amazing to watch. Yuna is the same type of athlete that thrives under pressure.
 

let`s talk

Match Penalty
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Actually, while Plushenko's Nationals record is quite impressive, he did not go to Nationals in the 2002-2003 season. I don't recollect why (injury?), but naturally, he still took his place on the team for Euros and Worlds. Which is completely justifiable.

Both Alexei Yagudin and Irina Slutskaya skipped Nationals in their final Olympic seasons. Also not a big deal given that they were the reigning world champion both times.
You don't know what you are talking about. You can't just "skip" Russian Nationals and yet get a spot in Team Russia. In order to do that you have to apply BEFORE the qualifier, which is RN in this case, and ask the permission to get a spot in Team without participation in the qualfication round (RN). Needless to say that the reason must be stated and that you have to be a reigning RC, or EC, or WC, etc. The RusFed makes the decision before the RN and if the spot is granted, the other skaters know in advance that one spot has been already given, so they are fighting for what is left.

Have no idea how they do it in South Korea or Georgia. And care even less.
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Regarding Yuna skating two clean programs for the first time at the Olympics, that was anything but luck. Some competitors just THRIVE under lots of pressure. Instead of paralyzing them, the pressure focuses and motivates them. In fact, without any pressure, it could actually be harder for them to focus/concentrate and they could even make more mistakes. Some athletes are just like that, and Yuna is one of them.

Another example is Carly Patterson, the 2004 Olympics gymnastics champion. Carly had an incredibly difficult beam routine, including the most difficult dismount in the world, the double Arabian. Prior to the 2004 Olympics, I had never seen Carly perform her beam routine totally cleanly in any competition, wihout any bobbles or mistakes. She almost never stuck her dismount. At 2004 nationals, she actually fell off the beam twice in two days. But at the Olympics, in both the all around and beam event finals, Carly did two perfect beam routines with zero wobbles and stuck her dismount both times. It was quite amazing to watch. Yuna is the same type of athlete that thrives under pressure.

Yet another example is Gabby Douglas in 2012. Actually known more for inconsistency than anything else, went into the Olympic All-Around Final as the second-highest qualifier behind Viktoria Komova. Even the commentators were worried about how she would hold up. The result? Douglas nailed all four of her routines and took home the gold medal; Komova had one little bobble on the vault that cost her the title (she was clearly shaken by the expectations put on her as the highest-scoring qualifier). Aliya Mustafina, famous for her steady temperament under pressure, lost focus, fell off the beam, and still won the bronze medal because she could brush that aside and nail her floor routine.

Yuna isn't clean 100% of the time, but she knows how to skate when it counts. And, more importantly, she gets in the right mindset to do it.
 

jaylee

Medalist
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
You don't know what you are talking about. You can't just "skip" Russian Nationals and yet get a spot in Team Russia. In order to do that you have to apply BEFORE the qualifier, which is RN in this case, and ask the permission to get a spot in Team without participation in the qualfication round (RN). Needless to say that the reason must be stated and that you have to be a reigning RC, or EC, or WC, etc. The RusFed makes the decision before the RN and if the spot is granted, the other skaters know in advance that one spot has been already given, so they are fighting for what is left.

Have no idea how they do it in South Korea or Georgia. And care even less.

I don't think you know what you are arguing about. My word choice? Slutskaya, Yagudin, and Plushenko did not go to Russian nationals in years that they were named to the Euros and World team. Thanks for detailing the process for how that happened, but that doesn't change the fact that what I said was correct. I implied nothing untoward about their process at all, unless you are reading way too much in the word "skip."
 

torren

Rinkside
Joined
May 29, 2013
Just because Yuna makes everthing so effortless, it dosen't mean she pull it off easily. No one could imagine how hard she's been training with injuries under poor condition in Korea where there's no rinks for figure skaters so far. She earns her legacy by herself and that makes her great more.

But... As some commentators and journalists have pointed out. To me she looked bored. Most of all, I upset about her attitude. She was even not thrilled to result.
 

mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
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...
 

MiRé

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
But... As some commentators and journalists have pointed out. To me she looked bored. Most of all, I upset about her attitude. She was even not thrilled to result.

Please provide the links where commentators and journalists said "she looked bored."
Im very curious
 

let`s talk

Match Penalty
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Slutskaya, Yagudin, and Plushenko did not go to Russian nationals in years that they were named to the Euros and World team. Thanks for detailing the process for how that happened, but that doesn't change the fact that what I said was correct.
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.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
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...

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.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
That's my girl! Cool as a cucumber on the outside, brimming with passionate intensity on the inside. :yes:
 
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