Little funding dashes 2018 chance

By Kwon Ji-youn

Korean figure skaters closed out the season with below-par performances at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Figure Skating Championship in Shanghai last month, and without steady investment, skaters will find it progressively more difficult to break through the fierce Russian barricade.

The Korea Skating Union (KSU) has pledged to invest 3 billion won in figure skating for the next six years, but it remains to be seen whether the money will be put to good use.

Korea, all too accustomed to Kim Yu-na’s dazzling achievements, has expected Kim’s successors to perform as the retired legend had when she was their age. At 16, Kim snagged bronze at the Worlds and two golds at World Cup events, breaking 190 points at the latter in 2008. Later that year, she fell while executing a triple loop in the free skate but still managed 196.23 to top the podium at the Grand Prix final.

Park So-youn, 17, finished 12th at this year’s Worlds, three notches down from her 9th-place finish last year.

She collected a technical elements score of 55.39 and a performance components score of 51.41 for 106.80 in the free skate. With the 53.95 she had received in the short program, she totaled 160.75.

Fellow 17-year-old Kim Hae-jin and the men’s representative Lee June-hyoung finished 19th with 136.24 and 197.52, respectively.

Park So-youn competes in the free skating event during the ISU World Figure Skating Championship 2015 at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China, on March 28. / AP-Yonhap

Gold in the women’s competition went to Russia’s Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who secured 210.36 points and in third was compatriot Elena Radionova with 191.47. Silver went to Japan’s Miyahara Satoko, who amassed 193.60 points.

Clearly, Russia has recovered from its slump. Once a powerhouse, Russian figure skating toppled after two-time World champion and Olympic medalist Irina Slutskaya retired. But Russia increased government investment in the sport, which may have borne fruit in the form of Adelina Sotnikova’s gold at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

At an official meeting last December at which members of the Korea Olympic Committee (KOC) were present, the KSU predicted no medals for Korea in figure skating at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, for which last month’s ISU Worlds may have served as a preview. The KOC hopes to finish in fourth place with 20 medals at PyeongChang.

Because of Kim Yu-na’s effortless grace on the ice, many don’t realize how hard-won an Olympic medal in figure skating is. Korea’s goals for its young skaters at the PyeongChang Games should not be to medal, but to inch their way into the top 10, then into the top five.

Before that, investment is needed in fostering new talent, something that the KSU finds difficult to address and so is often dismissed.

Figure skater Chea Song-joo said in an interview with The Korea Times last month that for figure skating to thrive enough for a Korean to medal in the three years’ time there need to be changes in the environment in which athletes train.

“There are very few rinks in Korea, and more importantly, there isn't yet a rink just for figure skaters,” she said. “The rinks that we are able to use are cold and the ice isn't great.”

Russia, on the other hand, boasts a full-scale production line if young skaters, most of whom grew up in two cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, where rinks designed for figure skating, qualified coaches and selection systems are concentrated.

Next on the list is a training system that ensures athletes are kept in form ahead of major events. Body shape changes are detrimental to a figure skater’s career ― Kwak Min-jung, who had once made headlines as the country’s next Kim Yu-na, has yet to overcome injuries and physical changes. Kim Hae-jin is said to be experiencing growing pains, having shot up four centimeters in 2014 alone.

“I’ve been growing so fast that it’s been putting pressure on my knees and hips,” Kim said. “My muscles can’t keep up with my height.”

Tuktamysheva, 19, had also suffered from injuries and growth issues that had kept her off the podium at 2012 Skate Canada. But she rebounded from such in no time.

The United Kingdom has also dramatically boosted funding for figure skating up to 2018 _ from 174,388 pounds (about 280 million won) between 2010 and 2014 to 1.7 million pounds (approximately 2.75 billion won) from 2014 through 2018.