Korean world champion Kim Yu-na won the gold medal in the women's figure skating competition in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on Friday (KST).
It is the first time that Korea has grabbed the Olympic gold medal in the figure skating and it is the second in Asia.
Kim burst into tears after finishing her free skate at the Pacific Coliseum which gave her gold by a massive 23-point margin on her arch-rival Mao Asada of Japan.
Kim received a world record of 228.56 points, renewing her own record of 210.03 set in last October.
“I can't believe this day has finally come for me," said Kim "I still can't believe my performance.”
Wearing a simple blue dress with a sparkling band around her neck, the 19-year-old skated to the Concerto in F by George Gershwin.
She never before had cried after a skating competition but tears flowed on Friday as she nailed all jumps--triple lutz-triple toe loop combination, four other triple jumps-- all with highly positive grades of execution. The 11,000 plus crowd in Pacific Coliseum gave her standing applause.
“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." Kim told AFP. Mao Asada skated immediately after Kim. She managed to execute two back-to-back triple axels, the second combined with a double toe loop. But halfway through her routine she ran into trouble, double footing a triple flip and singling the following attempted triple toe loop, according to AFP.
"I didn't see Kim's score," said Asada. "I couldn't watch her skate but I knew she had a solid performance as I heard the crowd's applause."
Mao scored 131.72 for an overall 205.50 and enough to take silver. Canada's Joannie Rochette earned 202.64 to grab bronze. Kim's fellow teammate Kwak Min-jung finished 13th with 155.53 points.
Kim's victory gives South Korea its first Olympic figure skating gold and adds to an already impressive showing at the games by the country's speed skaters, with big-name companies expected to increase their ad budgets for athletes who won medal, according to Yonhap news agency.
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