Kim Yuna

I just want to bring out a couple discussion points to think about. I'm going to contextualize and bring up some points to think about.

1) someone mentioned in class that compared to America there is a "more national collective"

First, the 'national collective' bit. During the Sinocentric (aka China is in center) world order, Japan was moving away from this Sinocentric world order and moving more towards the West and modernization. Japan disassociated with Sinocentric, calling it backwards, and thus saying how they were foward thinking, ect. in their linear time line. Since you don't need a history lesson, Japan colonized Korea and tried to claim its lands, but to prove that Korea was it's own nation, it tried to distinguish itself from both China and Japan. Now... why in the world is that applicable today? and to Kim Yuna? Well for several reasons... 1) nationalism brings together people in different facets, be it sports or a crisis like 9/11 or even a president being elected, but even more than that, Korea was trying to distinguish itself as a nation, which still impacts today.

Also, with national collective, it's more of a 'we' mentality. Let's be real... its' Kim Yuna (and you could definitely argue her family and her coach) that did all the work. Supporters just cheered her on. But does that mean they aren't part of the picture? Think about this perhaps in your life. Do you follow a sports team? Let's say, for Philly, the Phillies. When they won the World Championship (and it's true... what world championship, it's in the US only), were the people out on the streets screaming 'they won, they won' or 'we won, we won'. Eh, maybe they were screaming the Phillies won, but regardless it brought the entire city together, they were storming the streets. I lived in center city at the time, and I heard it for hours, after every game (as I dont' follow baseball) you wouldn't need to watch to know. Honking on the streets, facebook statuses changed. Sports bring people together. Perhaps in the case of Kim Yuna it's more national, but for the Phillies fans, its more regional. BUT even people who don't live in Philly anymore (say for school, work, ect) who were Philly-based and have those roots... I saw their statuses change too. Or even people who are from my hometown, who never lived in Philly in their lives.

Or even, put it in the context of the US national. Remember Shawn Johnson? Nastia Liukin? Maybe not... but in any case, they were the stars of the US gymnastics team back in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics. If you remember, they were superstars too. And yes, Kim Yuna is the undisputed CF queen (she literally was EVERYWHERE when I went to Korea last summer) but Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin were showing up everywhere too. They were at the MTV ...something Awards and showing up in commercials, magazines, ect. Or if you are an ice hockey fan... USA ice hockey national team? They were a first, and they went down in history because they defeated the odds.

2) someone mentioned the 'more to prove than America'. Do they have more to prove than America? Yes, in one sense. Korea doesn't always place at the Olympics. In certain areas, absolutely. But not everywhere. And why was Kim Yuna a big deal? All of a sudden, people were interested in this girl from South Korea and they couldn't dispute she was the best. (well, there were people who disputed, saying it was a conspiracy, ect). And in the sense she had more to prove... she did, because she was the first South Korean to ever have a shot at winning gold in figure skating. Is that a big deal? Yes, because it's a huge milestone, and someone has to cross it.

3) As I just mentioned, she had a shot of WINNING. People LOVE a winner. It's not just Koreans, it's all around the world. of course, look at the Usain Bolt story. look at the Liu Xiang. look at Michael Phelps. People don't want the Olympics to see who gets 5th place and remember their name... they watch because they want to see who WINS (and root for their country or whoever).

4) In the video you saw a little bit how speed skating got into Korea with the freezing of the Han River, which was much later than... say winter sports in America or even winter sports in Canada. You have to factor in when the sports came to be, which is why in 2010 there is someone like Kim Yuna who is making headlines as the first. Maybe Canadians are just better at ice hockey because they have some special thing in their blood that just makes them better? Or are they better because at a young age, much like perhaps American football in the states, a lot of people start playing hockey. Longer time to develop, ect.

5) someone in class eluded to If America wins in today's world, it's not that big of a deal, anymore, because it happens so frequently? You could argue that it's a bigger deal for South Korea to win gold in figure skating than America to win in the 100m track. But look at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. When America started advancing further and further, beyond anyone (or maybe no one was watching) expectations... all of a sudden it became a big deal. It was the same for the 2002 World Cup in America. Landon Donovan, anyone? All of a sudden, American friends that I didn't even know liked soccer and people I didn't know started cheering for the US. Maybe it wasn't as big of a deal, and it was the whole thing with the underdog story... but it doesn't not exist in America today either.

also, if America wins today in the world spectrum... America focuses more inward. Look at the NBA, look at the NFL, look at baseball World Championships. It is all WITHIN American borders that competition goes on. So the popular sports, like the ones listed, are all done by cities, by teams, by regions. So maybe it's not as big a deal if America, but maybe it's because American sports all compete against each other and not as much against the world.

6) Lastly, if Kim Yuna wasn't pretty, do you think she wouldn't be as popular?

In my honest opinion, I think she still would be. She is an ice skating champion who broke records in a world-televised OLYMPICS~! The Olympics. She was the first of her nation and ... she is younger than me. I think the fact she was attractive helped her and that helps any athlete who has an attractive quality to them. Amanda Beard. James Lebron. Maria Sharapova. Anna Kournikova (...she wasn't even good at tennis). Kobe Bryant. Adam Scott. David Beckham. Derek Jeter. Tom Brady. (yeah I googled some of them).

In any case, also... I think that you can respect someone and they can still be popular without being attractive. Just from a personal perspective.. some people might think Park Ji Sung (Korean soccer player) is not attractive, and maybe he doesn't have the best looking face... but his work ethnic, his talent, the drive for what he does, his leadership... is that not attractive? He is a popular figure (in part because he plays for Man U) in Korea as well.

Feel free to discuss, post, if you want to individually email me. The point is to DISCUSS. I am trying to challenge you to think outside the frame, so challenge me to think outside my frame as well.

Thanks

Joyce

P.s. if you are curious about Kim Yuna's skate program at the Olympics, I added a clip from her short program. I saw a lot of amusing statuses right after she skated, so you can watch and see what I mean.

My perspective: Growing up, I remember watching particular sports. During the Winter Olympics, I would watch figure skating, speed skating, and sometimes bobsledding with my family. Not an avid follower (like watching the World Championships on years not the Olympics) but I did watch World Championships on occasion. In general, I like sports. I loved watching soccer, playing football, watching basketball (Lakers, though bball was later in life), gymnastics, ect. I'm terrible at sports though.. note how I said I like watching most of them. I like rooting for the underdog and just inspirational stories in general. On to figure skating and Kim Yuna, I heard about her through the Korean and Korean American community, ie friends and family. I watched her on my TV with my brother at the Olympics and neither of us could breath while she was performing. I also was in Korea in 2009 and saw her EVERYWHERE. She really was the reigning CF Queen then and still a very popular figure now.