Yuna Kim | Page 313 | Golden Skate

Yuna Kim

Suze

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
I’ve been missing figure skating so much and have spent countless hours on YouTube watching past performances (competitions and shows) of my favorite skaters.

I’m so happy to discover this fanmade video of Yuna’s Olympic Send in the Clowns sp to the Beauty and the Beast song. I got CHILLS! This is a can’t miss for Yuna fans (and frankly any skating fan).

https://youtu.be/_-GCFzEPUCw

The music is almost perfectly aligned to her movements and her lovely arms wonderfully convey the emotion and soft romantic nature of the song. To top it off, Yuna’s elegant yellow dress resembles the iconic yellow ballgown that Belle wears during the waltz scene with the Beast.

It is so well done! Please enjoy.
 

cosmos

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Belated Happy Birthday to YuNa!!!!

Recently, she joined the Organizing committee for the 2024 PyeongChang Youth Winter Olympics as one of 14 executive members.
 

gloriaxx._

Spectator
Joined
Dec 21, 2020
I’ve been looking around and I’m wondering if anyone has seen Kim Yuna’s Kiss & Cry?? It was a SBS show she had WAY back in 2010 but I can’t find anywhere to watch it with English subtitles...
If anyone could help, much appreciated!!!
 

Lzbee

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
I've been watching some of Yuna's old programs and saw her "I see the light" exhibition for the first time. Her lines, musicality, charisma and flow are still unparalleled today. I'm so happy that we're still getting new performances from her. She will always be THE Queen.
 

alvaro808

Spectator
Joined
Dec 8, 2019

I posted the following (under my Youtube name) in the Comments:

------------------------------

I have been a fan of “Queen” Yuna Kim since 2018, when I first saw her at the Opening Ceremony at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. As I began to learn about Yuna and her incredible story, I began to fall in love with her. And that began to change my life. 😊❤️

Too often, we dismiss promotional campaigns like these as ploys to sell products or bland attempts to deal with a changing world. And it’s very easy to become jaded and cynical not only about the world but about life.

Yet, when I see Yuna talking about her struggles and sharing her wisdom, I see in her strength, resilience, and courage.

It takes all of the above to fight hatred and despair. It also takes humility.

Most of the women featured in this campaign - including Yuna Kim - are famous and established. They do not have to do this. They can rest easy on their wealth and laurels while the rest of us struggle to survive.

But they choose to share with the world their Aloha. And, at a time when there are so many who are struggling simply to get through the day, their message will help save lives.

I do not know if I ever will have the chance to meet Yuna Kim in person. But if I ever do, I simply want to thank her for changing my life.

Thank You for sharing this interview.

Aloha 😊❤️🙏🏼
 

OS

Sedated by Modonium
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Happy Birthday Yuna, dear Queen of Ice. The ultimate artist/icetist of the modern era. Our ultimate Olympic Champion of all times!

An inspiration to all. You are truly missed, and we are truly blessed.

Hope to see you on the ice soon.

(ps. love the Bday twtspam SkateSocs :clap:)
 

OS

Sedated by Modonium
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Yes, she really is. My favorite work of hers is The Lark Ascending, but I think the best part of her work is that, when taken as a whole, it is autobiographical in nature. Lark Ascending was her first senior program, but if you watch her skating at the very end of her competitive career, she skated to Send in the Clowns to express her grief and regrets, but also reminiscence about an old friend. And then Adios Nonino to express the depression and isolation she felt (the only Korean skater to be skating for a long time), but showcasing acceptance and departure (the ending and especially the reaction in the kiss and cry enhance this impression for me, even though not part of the program). It is this multi-layered quality to her musicality that makes her skating have such an impact, and it is this autobiographical nature of her work that has enriched with time, especially if you learn about the context of each piece, and how the work unravels from year to year, till it ends...

Totally.... Lark Ascending is ethereal to the T. It reminded me of the innocent times, not really skating for points and look for meaning and purpose in the choreography, music interpretation, and expressions matters in PCS. When grace, romanticism are still emblematic for ladies' figure skating rather than acrobatics formula and politics for points.

I believe I PMed you separately while revisiting her old programs recently. Thought I'd share in the thread. She can really be proud of those programs retrospectively. At their bests, they are infinitely rewatchable and timeless.

Weirdly, I have always felt her Sochi programs have the feel of a defiant valedictorian speech rather than something designed to win a competition. The programs feels more philosophical in approach, and have a feel of a summation, more artistically challenging rather than designed to spoon-feed COP scoring/formula, or for the sake of popularity.

Her program typically contrasts on a seasonal basis, and the pairing is always interesting. Send in the clown has the feel of a tribute. Reminiscence 6.0 type of grace and romanticism, feels very much defiance against the COP 'trend'. Adios feels like a 2.0 challenge on new-age artistry despite COP. Establish moods with complexity and nuance. Choreographically, musically way more difficult than what is typically necessary under COP formula.

I am really glad you picked up on the autobiographical aspect of her work, it is what is really separates her as an artistic skater. Really, if you look at her work chronologically, it would be difficult to imagine they be skated in any other order.
 

jaylee

Medalist
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
ETA: One of the other things that I notice more with Yuna's skating whenever I return to it, is how her skates were able to "listen" to the music too... She was really second only to people like Mao and Michelle, there, even though if we consider overall technique on skating skills, she falls behind some others. She was able to produce the softer, more lilting flow needed in even her junior program like Papa Can You Hear Me, but her ability was such that she was also able to use her ability to bring the dance quality needed in the traditional dance used in Homage to Korea, to the explosive speed needed in Les Miserables, to the jazz-inspired rhythmic phrasing in a nuevo tango like Adios Nonino... Only two others did it better, for me.

I have had the pleasure and privilege of seeing Yu-Na, Mao, and Michelle all perform live, as well as being very familiar with their careers, and for me, I don't agree at all that Yuna was second to them in her skates "listening" to the music. I only have to look at the one piece of music that they all skated to -- Scheherazade -- and conclude that though each skater has something unique about them that they do best, Yu-Na has her own claim to being second to none. With all due respect to Mao and Michelle and their illustrious body of programs, their Scheherazade interpretations hardly had the allure and sense of underlying strength combined with vulnerability that Yu-Na brought out that perfectly reflected the music and the character/story. Actually, I believe Yu-Na had the greatest interpretative range of all three of them (Danse Macabre was such an amazing contrast to Scherherazade; James Bond vs. Gershwin, etc), and she successfully demonstrated very different sides of herself more than the others. And speaking of James Bond, I much prefer Yu-Na's Bond Girl performance to Michelle's (she skated to The World is Not Enough).

ETA: Also, you note that Yu-Na varied her skating flow/speed depending on the music/programs, but say it's less than Michelle or Mao ever did...and that is puzzling because neither Michelle nor Mao were especially known for their variation of flow/speed. That is why Michelle sometimes lost against Irina and even Sarah Hughes and why Mao lost out to Yu-Na and Carolina Kostner. Takahiko Kozuka's father, after Mao's 2010 Worlds win, congratulated Mao on the win but noted that she lost the PCS component, and pointed out that it was because of the difference in variation of speed and a skating skills issue. I think he literally called Mao's speed monotonous...Mao's fans were not happy about that...

Again, not a knock on Michelle or Mao -- but when you look at their greatest hits, they don't, as far as I can see, demonstrate as much successful interpretative/musical range as Yu-Na did. I was actively watching figure skating in 2008-2009, and I firmly believe that though Mao's Claire de lune is a lovely standalone program, the reason it wasn't received quite as well as Yu-Na's Danse Macabre that year was because it was the third consecutive year that Mao was doing a delicate, soft, princess-y SP, whereas Yu-Na's Danse Macabre was a huge departure from her previous programs. Michelle also greatly struggled in the later part of her career -- post-1999 -- with reinventing herself and trying to come up with a different style/program that the judges weren't tired of (see Miraculous Mandarin as one of her attempts). I think Yu-Na really managed to avoid this because she managed to keep her programs varied and fresh, and because her interpretative ability was just so good. Kiss of the Vampire may not have been everyone's cup of tea, but it was different from what she had done before and she interpreted the music perfectly, right down to the lengthy footwork sequence that pulls the victim in the vampire's trap.

Anyway, not sure Yu-Na's fanfest is the most appropriate place for this discussion, but I just wanted to share my perspective as well. Also, I don't see how an Olympic champion, two-time Olympic medalist, two-time world champion, six-time World medalist, fell behind them or others in terms of skating skills. The judges get it wrong sometimes, but not THAT wrong. Yu-Na's 2010 Olympics FS is still a master class in skating skills -- you can literally do a checklist of it against the skating skills (and all PCS criteria) and see how it fulfills every single one. Performance for the ages, gold standard, second to none.
 
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jaylee

Medalist
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
I didn't say it was "listening" to the music - rather her ability to produce that varied motion through her skating skills was second to theirs (and nobody else's). That's her technical aspect. If you disagree, you disagree.

Well, you're tying her technical ability to her musical interpretation ability. So yeah, I disagree.

I'll quote my edit above: Also, you note that Yu-Na varied her skating flow/speed depending on the music/programs, but say it's less than Michelle or Mao ever did...and that is puzzling because neither Michelle nor Mao were especially known for their variation of flow/speed. That is why Michelle sometimes lost against Irina and even Sarah Hughes and why Mao lost out to Yu-Na and Carolina Kostner. Takahiko Kozuka's father, after Mao's 2010 Worlds win, congratulated Mao on the win but noted that she lost the PCS component, and pointed out that it was because of the difference in variation of speed and a skating skills issue. I think he literally called Mao's speed monotonous...Mao's fans were not happy about that...

What you said just doesn't make any sense with what was observed from the time, and what the scores and results reflected. Yu-Na was known for her speed and variation of speed and flow, and Michelle and Mao were not. And I saw them all live. If you saw them live and have a different opinion to offer, feel free. (By the way, I also disagree with some other underlying assumptions in your post -- top skaters should demonstrate a variety of speed/acceleration within the program and ideally the music has the proper highs/lows to showcase this. But that doesn't mean that if you skate to a soft, slow piece of music that you should never be accelerating within the program due to musical interpretation requirements.)

If you disagree with me and with Takahiko Kozuka's father and numerous other commentators from the time period that Mao and Yu-Na performed live, fine. If you have some other evidence to offer to backup your opinion, feel free to share. But regardless of that I don't think Yu-Na's fanfest is the right place to post about how Yu-Na is second to them.
 

jaylee

Medalist
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Well yes. A part of it - interpretation is based on technique, how is it not? Doesn't mean I consider her overall interpretation inferior to theirs, just a part of it. Anyway, I would need to see more compelling arguments than those to consider her skating skills on par or better than theirs.

LOL. Actually, the burden is on you, not me or anyone else, to provide the compelling arguments. You haven't offered any compelling arguments at all. Did you see them live? If Mao's skating skills were superior, why did the PCS numbers not reflect it for the vast majority of their career? Can you cite any commentary from experts of the time? (Or even experts of today?) I've offered supporting details in these areas, and you have just offered your opinion, no actual supporting detail at all, and it's counter to the perception and the results of the time. You don't even acknowledge the criticism / praise that was said at the time, so perhaps you're not familiar with it. If you don't know why Takahiko Kozuka's father's opinion is credible and honestly carries more weight than my opinion, yours, or anyone else's on GoldenSkate/Youtube/Twitter, I recommend looking him up and finding out exactly what he said in 2010. But the way you dismiss that and everything else makes me doubt that you are even open to any perspective that disagrees with your own.

Look, I am a huge Michelle Kwan fan and I think she has superpowers of her own. I greatly relished the Yu-Na and Mao rivalry and am familiar with many, many details of it. I am all for honest exploration and discussion, and happy to share what I learned from being a fan of the time -- a fan who sought to educate themselves on the strengths and weaknesses of all skaters, and appreciate what they all brought to the table. So while this discussion is obviously not going anywhere, for those who are curious and open-minded, I encourage them to do their own research. I'm happy to share facts and my perspective as a Yu-Na fan and a skating fan of multiple decades, and I do my best to offer a sincerely honest argument with supporting details.
 

qwerty123

Spectator
Joined
Jan 25, 2022
Mao Asada’s former coach Sato Nobuo talks about Yuna and Mao

As for Kim Yu-na, the accuracy of speed and jump are great. Nobuo said, "The 30m x 60m link is too wide to do something alone, so it's great (Kim Yu-na's skating)."

“She has a speed that prevents you from feeling the width of the link. If you speed up, it's easy to shake (the center) and it doesn't work out as the skater wants, but she can jump accurately while speeding up. High level of skill.”

"Yuna's skating is so soft that there is no sound of scratching the ice. I don't even hear a wriggling sound. Her skating skills match my ideal skating - like butter on bread. This is the difference between Yuna and Mao. Jumping is an extension of skating skills. Therefore, developing skills is a way to reduce the difference between Yuna and Asada. In the long run, it exerts a good synergy effect on jumping as well. "

Mao- Nobuo saying, "She works hard," but the reporter almost cried when he was embarrassed to see Nobuo saying, "Because I watch her every day." Nobuo brought up the story about step with difficulty.

About Mao's step (Swan Lake), when I saw Twizzle at that speed at the end, I was like, "Huh??" Even if there is an acting like, "What's wrong with her?" I forget it.

There may be some technical stories, but above all, it is important for her to win against herself. Don't be aware that it's a special season, and that's enough if she can become a skater that has improved every day over and over again. Nobuo also said that Mao's jump is better than last year. Hope it rotates a little more properly, so is it.
 
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