The character arc of Kim Yuna
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 5 September 1990 in Bucheon, South Korea, the younger of two sisters. Between then and now sit skates at the age of five, a competitive career from 2001 to 2014, a mother the press called the single largest contributor to her success, a junior Grand Prix final title in 2005 and a world junior title in 2006, three Grand Prix Final titles, two world championships, an Olympic gold in 2010 and a silver in 2014, eleven broken world records, a career with no finish outside the top three, and a successful bid to bring the Winter Olympics to her own country. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Kim Yuna?
Nobody from her country had done it. So she did all of it.
She was born in Bucheon to a business owner and his wife and has an older sister. Her mother took an active role in the skating career from the start, and a Korean newspaper called her indisputably the number one contributor to her daughter phenomenal success. She started skating at five and began competing in womens singles in 2001.
The statistic that defines her is not a win. It is that she never finished off the podium in her competitive career, not once, from 2001 to 2014. She won every major international competition there is. She broke world records eleven times, was the first woman to score above 150 points in the free skating segment and above 200 in the combined total, and at one point held the record in all three competition segments at the same time.
And she was first at everything for her country. She became the first South Korean figure skater to medal at the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the senior Grand Prix and the junior Grand Prix. That is four separate firsts, which means that at each level there was nobody from her country who had been there before her, no route mapped out and no example to copy.
The list: junior Grand Prix Final champion in 2005, world junior champion in 2006, Grand Prix Final champion in 2006, 2007 and 2009, Four Continents champion in 2009, world champion in 2009 and 2013, Olympic champion in 2010, Olympic silver medallist in 2014, and six-time national champion. She is noted for her rivalry with the three-time world champion Mao Asada of Japan, and the two of them headlined womens skating for two Olympic cycles.
She retired from competition in 2014 and was then instrumental in the successful bid to bring the 2018 Winter Olympics to Pyeongchang in her own country, and lit the cauldron there. She built a professional skating career, producing and appearing in ice shows, remained one of the highest-paid athletes in South Korea well into retirement, is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, and was in the Time list of the hundred most influential people in the world in 2010.
The moments
Kim Yuna's timeline.
The 1990s
Born in Bucheon
Everyday. Bucheon, and an older sister.
Skates at five
Milestone, and it changed everything. Five years old, on the ice.
Her mother runs it
Milestone, and it changed everything. Her mother is on the record as the reason.
The 2000s
She starts competing
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Thirteen years of competition, starting at eleven.
National champion
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Six national titles, in two separate runs.
Compete for a country with no history in it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: go at it anyway, taken, or stay a domestic champion. She became the first South Korean to medal at all four levels, won Olympic gold, and never finished off a podium.
Junior Grand Prix Final
Milestone, and it changed everything. Fifteen, and winning internationally.
World junior champion
Milestone, and it changed everything. World junior champion at fifteen.
World champion
Milestone, and it changed everything. The world title, at eighteen.
Eleven world records
Milestone, and it changed everything. Eleven world records, and the first past 150 and 200.
The 2010s
Olympic champion
Milestone, and it changed everything. First from her country at every level there is.
The Time hundred
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Nineteen years old, on the Time list.
Silver, and never off the podium
Milestone, and it changed everything. Thirteen years of competition, and not one finish outside the top three.
She retires at twenty three
Milestone, and it changed everything. She stopped at twenty three, at the top.
A home Games, and the cauldron
Milestone, and it changed everything. She helped win the Games, and then lit the flame.
Ice shows, and UNICEF
Milestone, and it changed her direction. She produced the shows as well as skating in them.
She lit the cauldron at a Games she had helped bring home, in a country that had no figure skating tradition before her. What she set moving is measured in the skaters who came after her and had, for the first time, somebody from their own country to copy.
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Kim Yuna: frequently asked questions
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More character arcs
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Sources
- Yuna Kim, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Her competitive record and world record marks under the ISU Judging System.
- The Korea Times assessment of her mother role, as quoted there.
- The record of the Pyeongchang 2018 bid and the opening ceremony.