Yuna Kim (Korean: 김연아; born September 5, 1990), also credited in eastern name order as Kim Yuna or Kim Yeon-a, is a retired South Korean figure skater. Known for her well-rounded skills, achievements, popularity, and impact on the sport, she is one of the most highly recognized athletes in South Korea and regarded as one of the greatest figure skaters in history, being commonly referred to as "Queen Yuna". Kim started skating at five years old and competed in women's singles from 2001 to 2014. She is the 2010 Olympic champion, the 2014 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time World champion (2009, 2013) the 2009 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2006, 2007, 2009), the 2006 World Junior champion, the 2005 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a six-time South Korean national champion (2003–2006, 2013, 2014).
Kim never finished off the podium in her competitive career, becoming the first South Korean figure skater to medal at the Olympic Games, World Championships, ISU Grand Prix, and ISU Junior Grand Prix. She won every major international competition in the course of her career and is a former record holder in all three competition segments in women's singles under the ISU Judging System having broken world records 11 times. She was the first woman to score above 150 points in the free skating segment and 200 points in the combined total score. Kim is noted for her rivalry with three-time World champion Mao Asada from Japan, with whom she headlined women's skating for two Olympic cycles until the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
After her retirement from competitive figure skating in 2014, Kim was instrumental in the successful bid to bring the 2018 Winter Olympics to her home country in Pyeongchang. She also had a successful professional skating career, producing and appearing in several ice shows such as All That Skate. With her various sponsorships, Kim remained one of the highest-paid athletes in South Korea even well into her retirement. She was included in the Time magazine's annual list of the World's 100 Most Influential People in 2010 and in several Forbes lists.
Kim was born on September 5, 1990, in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, in the northern part of the country. A more standard transliteration of her name is "Yeon-a"; when Kim applied for a passport, the official misspelled her given name as "Yu-na" (유나) instead of "Yeon-a" (연아). Since her competitive days, she has asked international media to refer to her as "Yuna Kim" instead of "Kim Yu-na".
Kim was born to business owner Kim Hyeon-seok and his wife, Park Mi-hee. She has one older sister. Her mother, whom The Korea Times called "indisputably the No. 1 contributor to Kim's phenomenal success", took an active role in her daughter's skating career from the beginning, driving her to the ice rink each day, attending all of her practices, and acting as her coach, manager, spokesperson, and mentor. She played English cassette tapes in the car to help Kim improve her English skills. Kim's family often struggled to fund her skating expenses; when her father's business was not doing well enough to pay for her lessons, they put up their house as collateral for a bank loan. Kim's father chose to remain out of media attention, choosing to watch her skate on television along with her sister instead of accompanying Kim to international competitions. Both parents, however, attended the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Kim credited both of them with her success as a figure skater. She also named American figure skaters Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen as well as Brian Joubert, Stéphane Lambiel, and Tomáš Verner as her influences.
Kim began skating at the age of five at a local rink with her sister. Former ice dancer Ryu Jong-hyun coached Kim between the ages of seven and ten, and former single skater Shin Hea-sook, who competed for South Korea at the 1980 Winter Olympics, guided her between 10 and 12 years old. Kim later said that Ryu and Shin both helped her, from the start of her skating career, to become who she was both technically and spiritually. Ryu suggested to Kim's mother, who noticed early on that there was something special about her daughter's skating, that Kim may receive formal training in figure skating. In an interview from 2011, she gave credit to her coaches for noticing and developing her aptitude for skating, who also told her that "her muscles and body structure are perfect for skating". Kim herself added, "I was born with a good instrument, maybe more so than the talent". Ryu cited Kim's work ethic, especially her hard work, dedication, and commitment to practice for her success. She landed her first triple toe loop jump at the age of 10 and, except for the triple Axel, she was able to perform all types of triple jumps cleanly two years later. During her middle school years, her boots often did not fit her as she matured, suffering many injuries, including a period when she had to rest for a month after a pelvic-muscle injury.
In 2002, Kim competed internationally for the first time at the Triglav Trophy in Slovenia, where she completed five triple jumps and won the gold medal in the novice competition, the first international victory for a Korean woman. A year later, at age 12, she won the senior title at the South Korean Championships, becoming the youngest skater ever to do so, a record not broken until 2016 by 11-year-old You Young. She also placed first at the 2003 Golden Bear of Zagreb, a novice competition. Kim won three consecutive South Korean championships between 2003 and 2006.
In the 2004–05 season, Kim competed as a junior during the ISU Junior Grand Prix. She won a gold medal at the 2004 JGP Hungary, her first international competition, and became the first Korean skater to win a Junior Grand Prix event. She placed first in both competition segments, the short program and the free skating program, scoring a combined total of 148.55 points. At her second competition, the 2004 JGP China, Kim was in fourth place after making four errors in her short program, but rebounded in the free skate to take second place overall with 131.22 points. She qualified for the 2004–05 Junior Grand Prix Final, where she won the silver medal with an overall score of 137.75 points. It was the first time that a Korean skater had won a medal at the event.
At the 2005 South Korean Championships, she won her third consecutive gold medal. In her free skate, she successfully executed a combination of two triple jumps for the first time but fell on her triple Lutz. She was ineligible to compete at the World Championships, because she did not meet the required age minimum of 15 years old. She won the silver medal at the 2005 World Junior Championships with 158.93 points overall. Coming from behind after the short program, where she had finished in sixth place, she scored 110.26 points in her free skate, with her "secret weapon" of a triple-triple jump combination. It was the first time that a Korean skater had won a medal at the Junior World Championships and the Junior Grand Prix Final.
2005–06 season: World Junior champion
Kim lacked the corporate sponsorship to pay for her training and participation costs, so she experienced financial difficulties; the Korea Skating Union promised to underwrite her expenses so she could train out of the country. She was not old enough to compete at the 2006 Olympics; instead, she participated in the Olympic torch relay and the 2005–06 Junior Grand Prix, winning both of her competitions in Slovakia and Bulgaria. At the 2005 JGP Slovakia, she finished in first place with 168.83 points overall. At the 2005 JGP Bulgaria, despite a great deal of pain caused by the new skates that she had purchased shortly before the competition, she finished in first place after the short program with 53.45 points. She also came in first place in the free skate, with 99.98 points, and won the gold medal, with 153.43 points overall. At the 2005–06 Junior Grand Prix Final, when she was first in the junior-level ranking and where she was the youngest skater to compete, she earned 57.51 points in the short program despite a minor landing error during her final spin movement. She earned 116.61 points in the free skating program and won the gold medal with an overall score of 174.12 points.