Let’s Give Yu-na Long Vacation
By Oh Young-jin
City Editor
The suggestion in the title of this article won't be as easy to fulfill as it sounds but, nonetheless, if one had tried to listen, not to what she said but what she meant during a news conference after the 2010 World Figure Skating Championships in Turin, Italy, it would be inevitable to reach the conclusion that Kim Yu-na, the 20-year-old Korean "Queen of the Ice," needs a break.
"I went to my school to say hello but soon I realized that I couldn't attend class and study like other students (because of the overwhelming attention)," she said. "I had an F but I didn't feel anything."
A translation of this is that she is being deprived of her chance at a normal life and is feeling rueful about it.
"On skating, two conflicting thoughts cross my mind. At one moment, I ask myself, 'Do I have to continue this thing?' and then I find myself coming back to the realization that it is the thing I am best at," she said.
This shows her love-hate relationship with the sport that she started at the age of seven, which for the next 17 years forced her to suffer countless falls on the ice, twisted backs and sprained ankles.
"Don't mock me for gaining weight because I intend to eat until my stomach bursts (figuratively speaking)," she said.
Obviously, this means that her ballerina-esque figure and exquisite moves comes at the cost of an extreme diet and thanks to a strenuous training regime.
Finally, she said, "I am just happy that the season is finally behind me." There is no denying that her 2009-2010 season was tiring after a splendid buildup that culminated with her golden performance at the Vancouver Olympics.
In Turin, however, she did what few had expected. What's surprising was not her error-prone short program that landed her in seventh place in the rankings but her stellar performance in the free program that pushed her up to second overall.
In a nutshell, Kim is in a league of her own and has no more to prove, with her fiercest foe being herself.
However hard she may cry, Mao Asada, the eventual winner in Turin and Vancouver's silver medalist, has no other choice but to settle for the perpetual No. 2. Mao is like the soulless Salieri, who was fated to resent God for not allowing him the same genius as that given to Mozart.
Back to the suggestion made in the title.
Despite all the glory she is enjoying, I doubt whether Kim has much say in giving herself a sabbatical. That is where we can step in to help her.
The entire nation held its collective breath over every turn and jump she made in Vancouver and heaved a long sigh of relief when she completed her perfect programs, sealing Korea's first gold medal in the Olympic figure skating.
To Koreans, Kim Yu-na's golden performance helped restore its inferiority complex in regards to Japan, its savage colonial ruler. But it also represents a Korean coming-of-age of sorts because she won in a sport that has long been considered one that we believed we were cursed only to watch as audience members. Kim Yu-na is no longer an athlete but a symbol bearing Korea's national pride.
Commercial interests are also bound to hobble her free will.
Currently, Nike, Samsung Electronics, Kookmin Bank and Hyundai Automotive Group are all big-money sponsors.
Their mobile phones, sportswear, cars and financial products saw a big jump in sales in the lead up to, during and after the Vancouver Games. IB Sports, Kim's management, appears to be stopping at nothing to utilize Kim's commercial potential, with her likeness appearing everywhere, from milk cartons, bottled water and astringents to women's sanitary products.
Kim has reportedly made millions of dollars in endorsements during the just-ended season, with her commercial potential estimated to reach the tune of trillions of won. Simply put, Kim Yu-na is not just an athlete, but an industry formed around her, employing and giving paychecks to a number of people.
Then, she has obligations to her family. Her mom has virtually given up her whole life to make her daughter what she is today, playing multiple roles from mother, sister, coach, friend and trainer.
By all accounts, it won't be easy for Kim Yu-na to declare an end to these intricate relationships. She is an achiever accustomed to being challenged to jump the bar perpetually being lifted higher.
I have seen such a great athlete turn into a dud before. Hwang Young-jo talked to me when I was a sports reporter, right after he won the men's marathon at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Hwang was treated as a hero because he was the second Korean to win the Olympic marathon, the first being Sohn Kee-jeong, who ran to win in the 1936 Berlin Olympics when Korea was subjugated by Japan.
Showing me his gold medal during an interview at his training camp, Hwang said, "I am sick and tired of running. I want to quit." He was under enormous pressure to repeat his golden performance in the following Atlanta Games but his frequent escapades prevented him from doing it.
For Kim Yu-na, we had best let her decide on her future without public pressure. For that, if you happen to see her at a restaurant with her friends, look the other way and let them have some privacy.