WINTER OLYMPICS 2010: Banks a million! Golden girl Yu-Na Kim is simply perfect
By Neil Wilson Last updated at 1:29 AM on 27th February 2010
Top marks: South Korea's Yu-Na Kim
South Korean skater Yu-Na Kim, the richest athlete at the Winter Olympics, boosted her earnings by another $1million (about £660,000) when she shattered the world record score for the women's figure skating title.
Kim was challenged to break the world-record score of 207 she set in last year's world championships by her Korean bank sponsors.
They insured against the possibility with a Lloyds syndicate in London and will be glad they did.
Kim, 19, a Toronto- skater coached by Canadian Brian Orser, exceeded both her world record for the free programme by 13 per cent with a score of 150.06 and her overall world record by almost 11 per cent with a combined 228.56.
Kim completed all 11 jumps perfectly, beating Japan Mao Asada into second and leaving the Canadian audience crying tears of joy for Joanne Rochelle, who won bronze despite her mother dying in the week.
It is estimated Kim earned more than £5m from her sponsors in 2009.
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