Here comes Yu-Na Kim

She has to be considered one of the favorites for the gold medal at the Olympics in Vancouver next year. From the Chosunilbo-

Korean figure skating icon Kim Yu-na clinched the gold in the women's single competition at the International Skating Union's Four Continents Championships.

Kim won 116.83 points in the ladies' freestyle final in Vancouver, Canada Friday local time ranking on the top with the total score of 189.07 in the competition. This follows setting a world-record short program performance of 72.24 points on Wednesday.

In the beginning of the performance on Friday she pulled off a combination of a triple flip and a triple toe loop although she fell once in her attempt to do a triple loop jump.

Ranking second was Canada's Joannie Rochette and Japan's Mao Asada last year's champion came in third.

Yu-Na has had a history of great short programs but not being to follow it up in the free skate part of the competition. She is one of the two or three top candidates for the gold next year. If Yu-Na does win it, will she inspire South Korean girls to take up the sport like Se Ri Pak did in regards to golf over a decade ago? My own opinion is that it won't on a comparable scale because of the limited amount of skating events and slots for skaters in them. There won't ever be 45 South Korean skaters competing in ISU events like there are on the LPGA Tour in a given year.

Curiously I just completed a web fiction story inspired by Yu-Na Kim and this old post of GI at ROK Drop. A young man in New Hampshire who wants to make his college hockey team and fails. He visits a magic shop where the owner sells him a wishing object. All he wanted to be was a better hockey player and skater. Instead he ends up a South Korean figure skater(Not Yu-Na Kim) in his hometown training for the Olympics. To get out of the spell and become a better hockey player himself, the young man must help the female skater improve also.

Before that story I rarely paid this sport and knew diddly about figure skating. Now I will probably watch the women's competition at next year's Olympics. It will be interesting to see if Yu-Na can bring home the gold.