For five minutes, all of South Korea held its breath, watching from offices, subway trains and packed restaurants as Kim Yu-na floated and twisted and twirled across Olympic ice. Then, as their “Queen Yu-na” made history by winning the country’s first gold medal and a world record in figure skating, everyone erupted in a deafening cheer.
As tears of relief flowed down Kim’s face, there was not a dry eye in sight here, either.
“I felt a lump in my throat when I saw Yu-na crying,” said Lee Ji-soo, 24, watching the competition at a rink where Kim once trained.
“It was overwhelming,” said teary college student Chung Jay-chul, 19, watching at a Seoul hospital where doctors and patients stopped to see Kim skate. “I kept saying over and over to my friend sitting next to me, ‘That was amazing.'”
The Vancouver Olympics have been historic for the South Koreans, who won their first medals in speedskating in addition to the usual collection from short-track speedskating.
But it was Kim’s bid for the figure skating gold that had the nation on edge. All week, all anyone could talk about was Kim Yu-na and her rivalry with Japan’s Mao Asada. Will Yu-na cave in from the pressure? Will Mao land her fearsome triple axel?
The nation came to a halt for 168 seconds when Kim skated her short program earlier in the week. Trading dipped at the stock exchange, office workers abandoned their computers and commerce came to a halt as everyone gathered around TV sets to watch.
“Yu-na: Perfect. South Korea is overjoyed,” read one headline the next day as she took the lead.
Kim — determined, graceful, generous and playful — is South Korea’s biggest sports star, with $8 million in endorsements and the kind of adulation reserved for royalty. You can eat Yu-na bread, wash your clothes with Yu-na fabric softener, drink Yu-na milk.
The cellphones she advertises are in hot demand, and the crown earrings she wears have made jeweler J. Estina a killing.
She has made experts of South Koreans largely unfamiliar with figure skating until she turned it into a local obsession. Coach Brian Orser is a star as well: He appeared in a TV commercial alongside his famous pupil, and broadcaster SBS aired clips of his rinkside jumps and leaps as Kim performed.
“Yes, you could say that some people are obsessed with Kim Yu-na, but we’re like that as a country,” said Yoo Sul-gi, 28, an intern watching the competition at a Seoul restaurant. “When we Koreans like someone, we really like them.”
At Kim’s high school in Gunpo, north of Seoul, students on spring vacation gathered to watch their most famous alumna.
“She’s going to come first — there’s no doubt about it,” said Kim Byung-joon.
They recalled how the school principal created a winter sports club for his gawky but ambitious young skating prodigy. He later set aside a Hall of Fame that includes Kim’s first skates.
Hundreds flocked to Seoul’s main train station hours early to stake out a spot in front of large-screen TVs, screaming “Go Queen Yu-na!” and “Go Korea! The one, the only, incomparable Yu-na!”
They waited, hands clasped in prayer, biting their nails and refusing to budge. The nervousness was palpable as she skated out, taking a big gulp as she got into position for her free skate to George Gershwin.
Girls watching on a big screen at Mokdong ice rink screamed and clapped every time Kim landed her jumps cleanly.
“When she was doing the flips and jumps, my stomach did just the same,” said middle school student Yoon Ha-eun.
Her final flourish had the entire audience up on its feet cheering and trading hugs. Confetti fluttered in the air at news that she set a world record, a score Asada came nowhere near touching.
“She’s just so breathtaking. You watch her and you feel like you’re skating with her,” said Kim Yeon-jeong, 31, who brought her two young sons to watch. “It’s nerve-wracking for us — imagine how it is for her.”
Those who couldn’t make it to a TV set found a way to watch. On subways, eyes were glued to cellphones and digital handsets playing the competition live. Those without access leaned over to watch their neighbor’s phone.
Even President Lee Myung-bak watched Kim skate. He sent her a congratulatory message for winning the gold, his office said.
“I’m just amazed by her ability to stand up against the immense pressure at such a young age,” said Lee Dong-woo, 30.
He hailed the girl from small-town Gunpo who went from humble roots to become the queen of figure skating. She’s come a long way from her early days of doing crossovers on a flimsy pair of skates, without access to good ice or the support of sponsors. She struggled financially because her father’s small business collapsed in the financial turmoil of the late 1990s.
Said Lee: “She embodies the Korean saying, ‘A case of a dragon rising from a ditch.'”
