By Matt Flemming
Korea Times Correspondent
VANCOUVER ― Let the coronation of Queen Yu-na begin.
On the world's biggest stage, Kim Yu-na dazzled a global audience with a stunning performance and brought an entire nation to its feet with an Olympic gold medal.
Faced with a showdown with her biggest rival, Yu-na delivered one of the best performances in Olympic history, giving Korea a moment of enormous national pride.
Just after 2 p.m. (KST), Kim climbed to the top of the Olympic podium at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum and received her gold medal. And as the Taegeukgi rose to the rafters and the Korean national anthem played, tears streamed from the eyes of Korea's biggest sports star.
It was a long-awaited moment, not just for Kim, but for her legions of fans at home and around the world, who not only hoped for but practically demanded nothing less than a gold medal.
Her success on the world stage has been regarded as a source of pride and inspiration to the Korean people. And on Friday afternoon, her fans from Seoul to Busan gathered around televisions and witnessed her finest moment, and one of the greatest triumphs in Korean sports history.
To her right on the podium in the silver medal position was Japan's Mao Asada, who in the end was no match for Yu-na. In one of the Olympic Games' most highly anticipated showdowns in years, Yu-na ran away with the win by more than 23 points.
She delivered perfectly her signature triple flip/triple toe loop combination along with nine other jumps, all performed with the speed, grace, style and expression she's known for.
As her free skating came to a close, she covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face and skated over to await her score with coach Canadian Brian Orser. It was clear from her flawless performance that the score would be huge. And it was - 150.06, yet another world record.
In the short program on Wednesday, it was Asada who skated well and laid down the gauntlet with a great performance. On Friday, Kim was up first and put up a nearly insurmountable score.
Faced with the daunting task of bettering Kim's score, Asada initially looked prepared to mount her best challenge, nailing a triple axel and a triple axel/double toe loop combination within the first minute of her program. But it was a couple of stumbles midway through her routine that all but clinched the gold for Kim.
Asada's 131.72 gave her a total of 205.50, well behind Kim's score of 228.56.
Speaking to a Canadian broadcaster after her win, Kim was beaming with pride as the moment sunk in.
"I still can't believe it. I was waiting for this moment. It was a dream, but now it's not a dream anymore. I'm very glad to be Olympic champion."
It's been a great Olympics for Korea in Vancouver, with more gold medals than many expected. But none can come close to matching Kim's victory.
She said watching Korea's other successes on the ice, such as gold medalists Kim Sang-hwa and Moe Tae-bum provided added inspiration.
"I've been watching the others, short track and speed skating on television, and I know they were good. I wanted to be like that. I'm really happy I helped my country."
The pressure on the 19-year-old to succeed in Vancouver was monumental. As the defending world champion, the defending Grand Prix Final champion, and as a competitor who has been almost unbeatable over the past two years, anything less than a gold medal would have been considered a failure.
Less-than-perfect performances in her last two competitions of 2009 had raised questions about whether she could handle the pressure of the Olympic Games. In the end, she was better than ever before.
"In the past, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do what I wanted, but I am really happy that I was able to show everything I did in training," said Kim. "I felt very little pressure."
And perhaps it was relief more than anything else which led to her emotion following her free skating program.
"Watching previous figure skaters, I always wondered why they cried after their performance. Crying for the first time today, I still don't know why I did," she told the press.
For Orser, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, Kim's gold represents the victory he never quite achieved himself. Orser had long sung Kim's praises while trying to downplay any suggestions that a Kim gold medal was all but assured. Olympic figure skating has been famously unpredictable and Asada had a good enough program to top the podium if Kim faltered.
"I did everything I could," said the Japanese 19-year-old.