Biography

Yuna Kim was born on September 5th, 1990 in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do. Kim began skating at the age of 6. Her coach at the time, Ryu Jong-hyun, strongly suggested to Kim's mother that Kim should continue to skate, predicting that she would become a world-class figure skater in the future. In 2002, Kim competed internationally for the first time at the Triglav Trophy in Slovenia, where she won the gold medal in the novice competition. A year later, at age 12, she won the senior title at the South Korean Championships, becoming the youngest skater ever to win that title. She continued her reign as a successful South Korean skater throughout her entire career.

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In February 2010, Kim competed in the ladies event at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She entered the Games as a strong favorite to win the gold. She set a new world record for the free skate under the ISU Judging System. Overall, Kim totaled 228.56 points, shattering her personal best and own old world record by a margin of 18 points and will have become the longest standing record performance in the current ISU Judging System. She won the gold medal, becoming the first South Korean skater to medal in any discipline of figure skating at the Olympic Games. She also set a new Olympic record. Kim's gold medal was South Korea's first medal at the Winter Olympics in a sport other than speed skating or short track. Kim's short program, long program and combined total scores in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver were the highest scores ever since the ISU Judging System was created, and were automatically registered in the Guinness World Records. Her immaculate routines in the Olympics were considered to be one of the greatest performances in figure skating history.

At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi:

In February 2014, Kim competed in the ladies event at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. She performed two programs during the event; both programs were intended as farewell performances of her competitive career. She led the short program and came in second in the free program. She finished with a silver Olympic medal. There has been much controversy over this as many believed Kim should have been awarded a Gold medal instead. There was suspicion both over Sotnikova's PCS where she received higher PCS than others considered far stronger artistically and in basic skating skills such as Kostner, Asada, and American veteran Ashley Wagner, and on par with Kim. As anticipated, Kim announced that the Olympics would mark the end of her competitive skating career. International skating sensation Yuna Kim was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador on 12 July 2010. Ms. Kim has long been supportive of UNICEF’s work on behalf of the world’s children, but was especially motivated to step up her engagement following the devastating earthquake in Haiti on 12 January, 2010.