Japanese and Korean netizens are on war of words following allegations that Japanese figure skaters had repeatedly impeded Korean figure skater Kim Yuna’s warm ups before competitions.
The debate started on March 14th following a SBS (Korean Tv) report which indicated that Kim was obstructed by Japanese skaters during 4CC in February. English subbed video of the SBS news below…
To be frank the interview was ambiguous… we can’t be sure if Kim was implicating anything; and it was SBS that directly linked the Japanese skaters into the saga.
Regardless, damage has already been done; Japanese media has picked up on the news and retaliated on the matter… followed by battle of words between netizens.
Kim and Japan’s Mao Asada are hot favourites to win the gold at Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics; the duo are set to compete for the 2009 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles next week.
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hey, they were at toronto! that’s where i live =)
I’ve seen both news reports and yes it’s really vague.
There is one part where Kim herself skates behind a japanese skater and nearly hits her.
But people have to remember that there are judges watching and accidents do occur.
I’ve seen two skaters collide unintentionally during warm ups.
The one thing that bothers me is kim’s unsportmanship, she hoped that Mao Asada would fall and brake a leg (she wrote it in her blog)
Both girls are talented so I really don’t get it, is is jealousy over Asada’s success or ?
Mao Asada has always praised Kim and considers her a friend.
bb… Toronto is near Vancouver? So you got to watch the Winter Olympic live next year? :)
Jenny… I can imagine that minor collisions are unavoidable during warm-ups.
All the videos and news on this matter are rather vague as you mentioned; the Koreans are putting stuff in favour of Kim, and Japanese obviously are doing the opposite thing.
The ‘broke leg’ blog post seems kinda dubious as well; it’s mentioned everywhere but I couldn’t find the exact link to that article that mentioned the words. It might be taken out of context.
From neutral point of view… let’s the results do the talking.
They’re complaining that a Japanese skater always seemed to cross in front of her and the camera during warmups?? That’s Kinda silly. There are a lot of skaters out there during warmups and the camera man is standing in one spot. Inevitably different skaters are going to cross in front of whoever he’s filming be it Japanese or whoever.
As for the rivalry between the two skaters. Remember Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan. Now that was a bitter and violent outcome.
It’s quite tragic how still today Korea and Japan bad mouth each other.
I remember the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan feud it ended both their futures as ice skaters.
Well I don’t think this will be like that (hopefully, who knows what a crazy fan might do)
nothing new lah. japan and korea fight on almost every sport. football was the fierciest one, and now baseball and figure skating. people thought the 2002 world cup will close their relationship, but nothing change, they are still fierce competitors.
lol, well…i’m not really the kind of person who’d travel to another city just to watch the olympics. plus, toronto and vancouver is not really that close to each other…one’s east and one’s west. =P
It is sad that Yuna got involved in this mess in the first place at a crucial time like this, right in the middle of the world champs. Well, to make long story short, Yuna never pinpointed out that it were her Japanese rivals that tried to deter her from her usual routine practice. Moreover, she never said anything close to it. She has not the personality to say such things.
SBS interviewed her and twisted her comments on the hopes of getting attention back on the ice from elsewhere. (They have exclusive rights to broadcast ISU ice shows/tournaments in Korea, no wonder they need “issues”.) I really hope there is a public apology, although I doubt it, for bloating this up to the extent that triggered another huge brawl among Yuna and Mao fans or KR vs. JP?.
Yuna “answered” a question, not stated or complained first, that there are often white wars among skaters on the ice before tournaments, but she is okay (like all other skaters) and will find ways to work herself up to best condition for the occasion.
Anyhow, I really hope sports remain simply sports although it seems impossible in this world of commercialism. :( Hope only the best for Yuna and good games from all the contenders in the tournament.
how funny…i just read this post and just happened to watch the World Skating Champs in LA on tv just a few hours ago. Kim Yuna blew everyone out of the water…she just dominated. i’m not sure what the final numbers were but after she skated her last number…she took first place by like a 16 point margin. i haven’t been following figure skating so i’m not familar with the skaters and i don’t know about all the drama but Kim Yuna was by far the best skater tonight…she kind of seemed to be in a different league than the others.