Kim Yu-Na to Be Dethroned at 2010 Figure Skating Worlds?
Kim Yu-Na is Overrated; Mao Asada is Underrated
Kim Yu-Na is not "queen" to me. Technically, Mao Asada is by far the better figure skater, even though Kim Yu-Na won the gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and even though "Queen" Yu-Na broke the point records forI am one of many people who believe that Kim Yu-Na is overrated as a figure skater. Before you point out to me that it's not all about the jumps, I agree! Figure skating is also about other required elements such as spins and spirals. Mao Asada can spin circles around Kim Yu-Na. The speed as well as positioning of Mao Asada's spins are superior to that of Kim's.
Additionally, Mao Asada has more extension to her spirals than does Kim Yu-Na. In fact, during the 2010 Winter Olympics, a figure skating commentator pointed out that Brian Orser, Kim Yu-Na's coach, had been having a hard time trying to get his athlete to work harder on her spirals, and that Yu-Na didn't like practicing spirals.
And it shows. And Kim Yu-Na also must not like practicing spins, because they are on the slow side, and there is nothing extraordinary about the positioning. A big deal was made about Kim Yu-Na breaking figure skating score records during the Olympics. What people fail to realize is that the figure skating judging system is relatively new, in place only since the previous winter Olympics.
So it's to be expected that records will be busted on a recurring basis. In fact, it won't be long before Kim Yu-Na's new scoring record will be broken again, perhaps by another figure skater, perhaps at the 2010 World Championships in Torino, Italy, March 20-29.
It's easy to think that Mao Asada's two triple Axels (one in combination) during the Olympic long free skate should have racked up more points than Kim Yu-Na's jumps, which included a triple Lutz, triple toe loop combination. But a commentator said that a triple Axel, double toe loop, is worth the same as the triple Lutz, triple toe loop.
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Comments
Sorry for the long post but it's my personal belief we've had enough Yu-Na! And I hope that a logical, objective breakdown of her skating will more quickly squash the media overload rather than rumors, innuendos and other baseless opinions. To simply understand the scores go to olympics.com and you can see clearly how much each execution was worth. Kim's skating strengths are the speed of her spins (contrary to what you wrote) but not her flexibility in spins. Her speed and coverage of the ice, the height of her jumps, the quickness of her rotations, the speed she goes into her jumps, her footwork going into jumps, her softer landing off jumps, her superior musicality compared to other girls and her lyrical expression on the ice. That's why she scores higher, I'm not sure what justification you have for feeling she's not technically advanced, compared to Mirai or Mao... both of whose routines were much ch less difficult than Kim's (but more than 30 points in the case of Mirai)
Arg! Kim Yu-Na overload. I'm so sick of hearing about Kim Yuna. So I agree she had a great Olympic performance, okay maybe even the greatest but let the girl rest sheesh.
Jillita, I have to say however that I cannot understand your article. Your headline hints that Kim might lost at Worlds but there's no basis in your article that supports that other than you "don't agree she's the 'Queen.'"
You're right that the ISU scoring system is only 6 years old but it's also true that Kim was the first World Champion since Tara Lipinsky to medal gold in the Olympics and the first ladies' figure skater since the 1980s to win both the Short program and the Free Skate... on the way to breaking 3 world records in 2 nights.
More specifics, Kim scored 20 more points in GOE, which indicates that the experts thought her performance was about 2 levels higher than the skating and performance of Asada and Rochette and the other girls. I'm not sure why you post what you did about not understa
I thought I was the only one who felt this way. Kim is a beautiful skater, but I didn't see anything besides her jumps that was any more than okay. I don't, however, think Asada is such a good skater either. Just because she can do an axel doesn't make her better than anyone else. She's darts on the ice, I don't think her foot work was anything special. I think our Mirai Nagasu is much more entertaining and talented that these other two. And I do think Rochette is graceful. That does not preclude her athleticism. I don't think that was an insult at all.
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