Kim Yuna, the greatest skater ever?

The encomiums come pouring down like waterfalls. There is no lack of praise and admiration for the 19-year-old talent that soars with both the rare combination of technical ability and artistic beauty.

Jere Longman at the NY Times describe her as seemingly floating to the clouds with her soaring jumps and airy elegance. "Math alone cannot fully describe the resourcefulness, complexity and artistry of her skating, except in this context," he praised. "Kim would have finished ninth in the men’s competition, nearly 10 points ahead of the American national champion, Jeremy Abbott".


The greatest ever?

Comparing athletes from different epochs is surely impossible but many of yesterday's greatest skaters "all seemed thoroughly impressed that Kim had been so poised and lissom in her presentation and vaulting in her jumps," Longman said.

"Everything is relative to the time and era", 1992 Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi explained, but added, "certainly, it has taken women’s skating to another level. Technically. The whole package."

Kim's coach Brian Orser describes her "welcoming" skating style saying, "She reaches the last row of the building . . . People feel they’re invited to enjoy it as she is."

"What's so fantastic about Yu-na is it's not about the money," Orser added. "It's about the sport. It's about skating beautifully. It's about her responsibility to her country."

Ted Barton, a Canadian who helped devise the new points-based scoring system said, "Technically, she’s the greatest of all time. If she skates a little longer and does this over the next three or four years, she will be the greatest skater of all time."

1984 men's Olympic champion, Scott Hamilton, described Kim to Seabiscuit, an athlete so dominant she breaks the will of her competitors.

"Yu-na has only been at the top of her game for a couple of years", he said. "But if she’s here another four years at this level, a lot of skaters would break down. They would try to up their games so much, there would be injuries. There’s no weakness there. Compare her with anybody; she’s got it all. Under any system, anywhere, anytime, she’d win."

The most decorated U.S. skater of all time, Michelle Kwan, in awe at Kim's speed said, "She's the fastest skater I've ever seen."

Katarina Witt, the 1984 and 1988 Olympic champion and the skating sweetheart of her time said, "She has a lightness to her skating and her jumps are very high."

And then the incomparable Dorothy Hamill, the 1976 Olympic champion says of Kim: "She’s the whole package. Her jumps are soaring and they’re equal. You don’t have one big one followed by a little tiny jump. I think she’s grown choreographically. She’s very musical. The whole thing is very beautiful and athletic but not too athletic. I don’t feel like I’m missing anything when I watch her."

But with the change in the scoring system and its strong technical demands on jumps and athleticism, some feel figure skating's "charisma" and "signature artistry" has diminished.

"As far as being renowned as a legendary artist, I don’t think so," Frank Carroll, Michelle Kwan's former coach said. "As a really great skater, technically, yes."

And added David Kirby, an American coach and a technical expert, "Clearly, she’s the best girl, but it’s because she’s the best technician. She’s 70 percent sport, 30 percent art. Peggy Fleming was a real artist and real athlete. I don’t think that balance of art and sport is the Olympic champion this year."

But surely, that's so much "quibbling", as Longman says. Indeed, even removing the technical aspects, among her rivals who can compare with Kim's artistry? Technically, Kim lies among history's best, but Mao Asada beats her with the triple axle, which Kim does not perform. Asada became the first woman to land two triple axels in a free skate at the Winter Games. To be sure, it's Kim's completeness of package that makes her Seabiscuit, not any one skill.


No quibbling in Korea

In her home country, there is no quibbling: Yuna by proxy fulfilled a nation's dreams and hopes. And for that, she is perfect.

On the streets of Seoul, millions stopped to watch Kim's historic performance with bated breath.

"I came here to the airport to watch Yu-na's performance on a wider screen. I'm so glad, as if my granddaughter won the Olympic gold medal," said 84-year-old Lee Kye-hwan at the Kimpo International Airport, Yonhap said.

"I was sitting at the counter, but no client came to me. They were all watching Kim Yu-na's play," said Kim Jong-sung, a bank clerk in Seoul. "My colleagues also paid attention to Kim for the five minutes."

"It was overwhelming," said teary college student Chung Jay-chul, 19, watching at a Seoul hospital where doctors and patients stopped to see Kim skate, wrote the AP. "I kept saying over and over to my friend sitting next to me, 'That was amazing.' "

"I'm just amazed by her ability to stand up against the immense pressure at such a young age," said Lee Dong-woo, 30.

An audience rating of Kim's free skating that aired around lunchtime recorded 36.4 percent, according to AGB Nielson Media Research, said Yonhap. The internet was also dizzy with excitement. Daum, a leading S Korean portal, hit an all-time high of 440,000 simultaneous log-ins for live internet broadcasting of Kim's performance.


Tears of joy

For an athlete with nerves of steel and rarely emotional, Thursday's performance brought uncontrollable tears to Kim's eyes.

"I didn't mean to cry, but I think I shed tears unknowingly, as I was relieved after finishing the performance," Kim said, noting it was the first time for her to cry after a performance, Yonhap said.

"I have seen other skaters drop tears many times after their performances, and I wondered why. And I had thought I was not going to cry this time," Kim said. "But I wept. I think the reason was that I was relieved with the feeling that I finally made it."

"I'm very happy to win the gold medal by showing everything I have practiced for a long time," Kim said.

"It has been such a long time that I made a 'clean program' in the long program," Kim added. "But I had confidence, as I made clean programs in my practice ahead of the Olympics."


Thanks Mom

Following her momentous win, Yuna attributed her success to her mother, coach Brian Orser and her other supporters.

"I want to express my special thanks to my mother for having led me so far and giving me a good scolding," Kim told reporters.

Yonhap said that Kim's mother, Park Mi-hee, 51, and her father, Kim Hyun-seok, 53, "burst into tears in the stands of the Pacific Coliseum as about 16,000 spectators offered a standing ovation to Kim after her dazzling free skating performance."

Yuna's mother has also been her closest friend "as over the past 12 years the 19-year-old athlete has spent most of her time training on the ice or attending competitions instead of hanging around with her peers."

Park has remained committed to her daughter's skating career, said Yonhap, also playing the role of strict teacher and disciplinarian, sometimes "punishing her with several laps around the track when Kim tried to take shortcuts in her training." It was her mom who discovered her, according to Korea Times, and went all in to support her daughter's talents.

"Her efforts to persuade her adolescent daughter to concentrate on figure skating led to Kim's becoming the youngest member of the national figure skating team in 2003," Yonhap said.

Of course, Brian Orser's contributions cannot be measured.

"When I first met Orser, I was too shy to perform before an audience but my personality changed as I got more experience," Kim said in a recent interview. "Now I'm pleased and have become familiar with skating before a number of people, so my (facial) expression has improved."

Yonhap said that "Orser, a former Canadian world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist once known as 'Mr. Triple Axel,' taught Kim not only how to improve her jumps but also how to deal with the pressure of big competitions."

"The one thing I can share with her is I've been there. I can say to her, 'I know what you're feeling,' and she knows that I really do," Orser once told reporters.

And under Orser's guidance, "the once shy 15-year-old has developed into the world's top skater, with three Grand Prix Final titles, one World Championship and now an Olympic gold around her neck."


Brief pause

For now, Yuna says she plans to stay in Canada and just "enjoy this moment." She has no immediate plans to return to her home country and bask in celebrity.

"I'll think about my next goal later," she said.

But her next goal is actually not very far away. Kim said she will be preparing for the World Figure Skating Championships coming up in March in Turin, Italy.