By Erin L. Cox
Last night in Vancouver, 19 year old Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na would skate a flawless program that would win her the gold medal. Voted Person of the Year in 2009 by The Korea Times, spokesperson for products from Nike to Hyundai, Yu-na is a star in Korea. Now, coming home with a gold medal in hand, Yu-na will now be elevated to an even larger international stage.
Last month, Yu-na published a collection of essays describing the intense pressure she feels as her country’s ambassador and the grueling training she undergoes to reach this level of skating . ”Kim Yu-na’s 7 Minute Drama,” published by Joongang Media, is a look at the milestones in her life and gave Yu-na the chance to share her true feelings with her fans.
In the preface, Yu-na writes, ”I wrote the book as if I was writing a journal. My thoughts became clearer and I started to believe in myself even more. I always thought I had so much to tell my fans and young skaters, and I’m happy that I finally got the chance.”
Now that she has won the gold medal and is the number one women’s figure skater in the world, will other countries vie for the rights to her memoir?
4 Comments
I hope so! She is a magnificent athlete and performer, I’m sure there are tons of pre-teens and teens out there who would love to follow in her footsteps/skate like her. There must be an unbelievable amount of pressure on such a young person; I hope she maintains her composure with all the international acclaim.
well, I would love to read this book, but I do not know a six penny lick of Korean. I would love for it to be translated into English or Spanish or French or German. I don’t see why it shouldn’t be, now that the popularity of Kim Yu Na has skyrocketed to a monumental international level.
Also, the intrigue of this book lies in the national popularity of Kim Yu Na. She is someone who has experienced so much pressure and exposure in her home nation of South Korea. Very few people have published works that let us inside the mind of the spotlighter, let alone a South Korean spotlighter.
This should be translated and distributed worldwide.
I read some US publishers are making contact for the rights. It surely will be a bestseller, why not ?
It is going to take more than a couple months, though. Translation, editting all takes time…
I would really love to read Kim Yu Na’s essays especially if they could be published in English.
Cam Brown
E-Mail camberlin1@yahoo.com