Word: koreas
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Call it the Asian Invasion. Or the Beast from the East. But for the first time in Olympic history, Asian skaters stood upon the podium in three of the four figure-skating events. With South Korea's Kim Yu-Na winning a gold medal and Japan's Mao Asada a silver with their skates on Thursday, Feb. 25, athletes from the Far East earned five of the 12 figure-skating medals in Vancouver. It's the highest haul so far in the sport at the Olympics for those from the Pacific Rim, and it signals the beginning of what many...
...While Asian skaters collected an impressive number of medals in Vancouver, many of these nations - Korea, Japan, China - have only rudimentary figure-skating programs, and most are still in the process of building an infrastructure for the sport, with élite-level coaches and comprehensive training from the novice level up. The country with the most advanced program is China, thanks primarily to the efforts of one man, Yao Bin, who in 1980 was part of China's first pairs team to compete in a world championship. After a 15th-place showing there that he considered disastrous, Bin built...
...Coaching choices are just as slim in Korea and Japan. In Korea, where short-track speedskating has traditionally earned more medals and respect from fans, figure skaters often have to share precious ice space with speedskaters, limiting their ability to build speed and work on expansive elements such as spirals and intricate footwork sequences. Things aren't much better in Japan, where crowded sessions forced Asada, as an up-and-coming talent in the early 2000s, to train for a few years in California before returning to a new rink built in Nagoya. (See a brief history of Olympic sore...
...look overseas as well, when her talent outmatched the coaching skills in Korea. She sought out a training facility in North America or Europe, landing in Toronto, where Canadian Olympic silver medalist Brian Orser was just beginning his coaching career. Having decided to adopt a hands-on approach, Orser skates along with Kim during most of her training sessions, pushing her to the remarkable speed she achieves as she flies across the rink. The move may have been just what Kim needed. "I think Yu-Na improved so much in Canada," says Jae Eun Chung, director of the Korean Skating...
...experienced a similar trauma two years ago before I was about to compete in Korea, and that is still difficult for me to think about," Kim said of Rochette's skate. "I thought to have it happen at the Olympics would be more of a burden, so I understand what she is feeling." "There were so many heavy hearts in the rink and in the nation," Canada's legendary skater Brian Orser (who is coaching Kim) said the day after Rochette skated. "I was just hoping she would be able to feel the support and love that was there...