Ice queen Kim Yuna has updated on her life post figure-skating for magazine Allure Korea.
In the fashion pictorials, Kim Yuna displayed a more composed and natural poses differing from her time as a figure skater. In particular, the natural day light accentuates her unique feminine and down-to-earth charms.
During a follow up interview, she mentioned, “I still don’t know what I really want to do. Currently, I am attending a graduate school, looking after my juniors at Tae Reung, and enjoying time off for photo-shoots like today as well as roles as an honorary ambassador. I am refraining from new thoughts as of now. If I am diligent in the present, I hope new thoughts will come to me naturally? I am enjoying this time of letting my guard down.”
Earlier this year, Kim Yuna has garnered attention for rumours of reconciling with her former boy-friend and ice hockey player Kim Won Joong.
After the photo shoot, she had participated in a brief interview, which will be in the September issue. However, Elle Magazine released teasers of the interview for fans to look forward to!
Regarding her retirement from figure skating, Yuna Kim said, “Since I’m not exercising anymore, my body doesn’t hurt anywhere and my mind generally feels free. And because I’m not working right now, I’m not stressed.”
Having retired at the age of 25, Kim Yuna mainly reminisced upon how her life has been more relaxing and carefree since her finale performance. Though she doesn’t have a driver’s license yet or haven’t drunk any soju so far, she was said to have gotten deep into shopping, something she wasn’t able to do with her long practice hours.
Kim Yuna, since leaving the ice after the Sochi Winter Olympics, had her final performance: “Kim Yuna’s Ice Show”. Since then, fans have been curious as to what she will do after hanging up her skates.
After her shoot, she was interviewed and said, “Entering the rest of my 20’s and beginning a different life, I am very excited, but on the other hand, I am afraid, too. Afraid, but more excited than afraid.”
Yuna also goes on to say, “I will continue to be active in the sport and coach my juniors [hubae]. I can’t give up the thing I know best.”
‘Figure Queen’ Skating Yuna Kim revealed new skating program for this coming Olympic season.
Earlier today, August 26, Yuna Kim’s agency All ‘That Sports’ announced her now skating programs: ‘Send in the Clowns’ for the short program and ‘Adios Nonino’ for the free skating program, both of which are the work of David Wilson, Kim’s choreographer who has worked with her for 7 years.
The song for Kim’s Short program ‘Send in the Clowns’ is composed by America’s great musical composer ‘Stephen Sondheim’ and is widely known as a title song for hit musical ‘A Little Night Music.’ The world is now focusing on how Yuna Kim will blend her movement to the song’s romantic, sad mood.
Yuna Kim chose tango song, ‘Adios Nonino’ for her free skating program. ‘Adios Nonino’ is a work of Asto Piazolla, master of Tango in Argentina. Since released in 1958, the song has been orchestrated in many different versions by composers from all around the world. The song is a tango song that delivers passion and sadness.
This is the second time that the 23-year-old skater shoes a tango song for competition program. Kim surprised the world as beautifully performing ‘El Tango De Roxanne’ on her senior debut stage; she was 16 back then.
During the interview, Yuna Kim explained why she chose those two songs. About her short program song ‘Send in the Clowns,’ she said, “The song is sung by a woman who misses her lover who left. At the first time I heard it, I wanted to perform with this song sometimes.”
“Free skating program song ‘Adios Nonino’ is a powerful tango song that is opposite to the short program song. It is very famous song and one of my favorites. It was the hardest program I’ve ever tried but I’m very satisfied with the result,” Kim added.
The Olympic champion also said, “This is my last competition program as a player, and I’m so happy that I chose the song that I’ve always wanted to do. I’ll try my best to show as great performance as fans are expecting from me.”
Meanwhile, Yuna Kim is now preparing for the new season and will be competing in 2014 Sochi Olympics and retire as a player.
Kim Yu-na completed her return as Queen of the Ice with her second World Figure Skating Championship yesterday, Korean time, after putting up a near flawless performance that left defending champion Carolina Kostner a distant second more than 20 points behind.
The 22-year-old Korean received 148.34 in free skate, the highest among 24 finalists at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario, for a combined score of 218.31. Kim also won Friday’s short program with a score of 69.97.
“I expected a good score as I did well, but I didn’t expect it to be as high as this,” Kim said after winning the world title, her first since the 2009 event. “I had done my best in preparing for the free skate.”
Kostner of Italy, who finished second in the short program at 66.86, settled for 131.03 in the free skate for a total score of 197.89. Mao Asada was second in the free skate with a score of 134.37, rebounding from a sixth-place finish in the short program to finish third with a combined score of 196.47.
It was Kim’s second-highest point total and the second-highest ever in women’s figure skating. Kim holds the world’s highest mark, 228.56, which she set at the Vancouver Olympics. She earned 150.06 points in the free skate in Vancouver.
Only four other times did she receive more than 200 points, two of them since her return from a 20-month break, raising hopes that she can defend her Olympic title in Sochi, Russia, next year.
Kim sat out competitions at home and abroad since her runner-up finish at the 2011 worlds in Moscow, triggering the speculation of her imminent retirement.
She broke her silence last July, saying the Sochi Games would be her final competition.
The victory in Canada is a big confidence boost ahead of the Sochi Olympics, she said.
Since her return, she said, she tried not to not think so much about people’s expectations during training and competitions. “I felt comfortable during practices,” Kim said.
“And the competitions also had good results, so I’ve got some a bit of motivation [to defend the Olympic title],” she said. “I will keep my heart light ,but will give my best in preparation.”
Kim entered the worlds as one of the favorites after winning the NRW Trophy in Dortmund, Germany, with a then season high score of 201.61 in December. Although it was a second-tier event, she competed to get the minimum points needed qualify for the worlds. She continued to impress, winning the Korean national championship in January with a score of 210.77.
Kim said her performance at the national championships in particular helped her to regain confidence.
“I had rarely done a clean performance at the senior stage,” Kim said yesterday. “Everybody feels burdened by the free skate due in part to the physical requirement. The result this time, I think, will be a great help for me.”
If she wins a gold medal in Sochi, she would become only the third figure skater to successfully defend the ladies’ Olympic title. Sonja Henie of Norway won the three straight Olympics starting in 1928. Katarina Witt of East Germany won the Olympics twice in 1984 and 1988.
At Budweiser Gardens, the audience was on its feet long before her final spin, and cheers erupted when her scores were posted.
No female skater has had a run quite like Kim from 2009 through the Vancouver Olympics. She won all but one competition, usually in breathtaking fashion. While most Olympic champions make a quick exit, Kim stuck around, finishing second at the next two world championships. But she stepped away following the 2011 competition.
Figure skating is meant to be a blend of art and athleticism, and Kim didn’t just feel her music from “Les Miserables,” she was part of it.
With each soft tilt of her head, she brought back memories of the little girl who began skating for the pure love of it, before medals or titles or the expectations of an entire country and sport ever entered her mind.
At 25 and with more expressiveness than most actresses, Kostner is one of the few skaters who can do “Bolero” justice.
Fixing the judges with flirty looks, extending her fingers oh so sharply and enticing the audience with a come-hither sway of her hips before beginning her footwork, she sent the arena temperature climbing.
Even a popped triple loop and a nose bleed that forced her to wipe away blood during a spin couldn’t spoil the sultry performance.
“It was not easy because the blood was just running out of my nose through the whole program,” she said. “It’s an important lesson that I just had to learn here and accept.”
The only thing to spoil the mood came in the final seconds, when she took a hard fall on a triple salchow.
“For me, coming here, I didn’t really know what to expect,” said Kostner, who skipped the Grand Prix season. “Now I can go home with a medal. It’s just such a great feeling. Last year, I reached one of my biggest dreams. I think before I had already given up. So this year I just felt I was able to live a part of it. I’m just so honored to be here.”
