"Wanna be a skater better than Michelle Kwan," said Kim Yon-ah (1st year at Dohchang Middle School), a fairy on the ice after becoming a member on the national team for the first time.
It was determined in the Single Senior Free Skating of the 57th National Figure Skating Championship held yesterday at the Icerink located in the Taenung Athletes` Village in Seoul. Despite her first experience in this part of the competition, Kim won four of the five judges. Thus, along with her victory in the short program the previous day, she brushed off powerful rivals like Shin Ye-gee and Lee Sun-bin and won the championship. The second place went to Park Bitt-nah.
Still 12 years and 6 months old, technically Kim is not allowed to participate in any international senior (15 years or older), nor junior (13 years or more) championship. Due to her excellent performance and potential, the Korean Ice Association plans to put her on the national team and rear her as a world star. Simply because she is too good to be true.
Kim shows her skills matchable to those of an adult player. She can perfectly complete five times of the triple jump, and demonstrate at her will the lay-up spin. She stands 148cm and weighs 35kg.
Lee Yoo-hwa, the vice president of the association, remarks, "Kim commands various techniques of high difficulty. The techniques are hard even for the national team skaters. Above all, she is really young. Thus, she has a lot of potential for development. Sometimes, she concentrates too much on jumping, leading to rough representation. If she makes up for this shortfall, she will be a world star." Another senior executive member of the association Lee Gee-hee says, "Kim is the best of the best in Korea. Once she builds up more experience, she will topple the world for sure."
She got to command the media spotlight by winning a championship in Europe last April. She is dreaming of winning a gold medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics.