Rising figure skater pledges to win medal at 2018 Olympics

Editor`s note: National figure skater Kim Hae-jin, 14, wrote the following piece in the wake of Korea’s successful bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province.

I have something to confess. I felt the year 2018 was too far away for me. I wanted to participate in the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. But I wasn’t sure if I would have a chance four years thereafter. I just thought that since there were many competitors other than me, someone else would be named.

Then I watched TV at the moment Pyeongchang was picked to host the 2018 Winter Olympics Wednesday night. I could hardly talk because I felt so happy. I now have a different idea. I truly want to compete in Pyeongchang as well. Since it will take place in Korea, I can maintain good physical and mental conditions. I also expect the Korean people to enthusiastically cheer for me. I feel excited just thinking about it.

I`ve often heard that I look like Kim Yu-na, 21. I truly felt blessed when elder sister Yu-na singled out me as her successor to follow in her footsteps after the Vancouver Winter Olympics last year. People say I`m just like Yu-na when she was my age because of my long legs, arms and leaping ability. I first put on a pair of skates when I was seven and completed five different triple jumps (excluding the triple axel) at age 12. I heard Yu-na completed these jumps at that age as well.

I won the novice competition at the Triglav Trophy Championships in Jesenice, Slovenia, last year. Kim Yu-na also participated in the championships in 2002 and won the same title. I heard Yu-na started to become famous after winning the title.

I`ve worked hard to follow Yu-na, and I`m doing my best now. At the National General Figure Skating Championships held in Korea in January last year, I won the women`s singles title by beating Kwak Min-jung, 18, who won the bronze medal at the (Kazakhstan) Winter Asian Games. I`m said to be the first elementary school student to win the overall title at the General Championships after Yu-na (at age 13) in 2003.

I will continue to improve my performance but I`ve experienced difficulties due to an injury that I suffered in September last year. While training, I bump into another competitor and ruptured my left Achilles’ tendon. After undergoing surgery, I couldn`t skate for a while and felt really depressed. I was hugely disappointed because I couldn`t participate in the Junior Grand Prix championships and Junior World Championships, for which I qualified. I was confident of winning medals because I trained so hard, but I had no chance.

Now that I`ve recovered from injury, I`m training five hours a day. Because renting an ice rink is difficult, I have to practice at 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when the rink is free, and go to two to three rinks to practice. I get home at nearly one o’clock in the morning. Sometimes I even cry because I feel so exhausted and stressed. But I now have a solid goal: an Olympic medal.

In 2018, I will turn 21, the age Yu-na is now. It is an age when a figure skater peaks in his or her career. I want to continue to stimulate public interest in figure skating, which Yu-na has developed, through the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018. I will take the top place at the winners’ podium in seven years, just like Yu-na did, right? Fighting!

creating@donga.com