2010 Olympics: Kim Yu-Na Wins Gold Medal in Ladies Figure Skating, Mao Asada Takes Silver, Joannie Rochette Takes Bronze

Kim Yu-Na won the gold medal in ladies figure skating, South Korea's first ever figure skating medal. Her chief rival, Japan's Mao Asada, won the silver, with Canada's Joannie Rochette taking home the bronze. The USA's Mirai Nagasu told an interviewer "I don't care about the results, I just want people to know I'm the future." Well, she certainly did that, pulling up from 6th to 4th place. Her teammate, USA's Rachel Flatt fell to 7th place.

1. South Korea's Kim Yu-Na came into the free skate with a score of 78.50. She claims that the long program is not her strong suit, but she skated a perfect program and landed all her jumps perfectly. Skating to Piano Concerto in F by Gershwin, she skated a beautiful flowing program, her expression serene and relaxed, and as she went into her spins, you could tell she felt the music and connected with the audience. She has never skated this program clean, but the Olympics was the place to do it. Her record breaking score of 150.06 gave her a total of 228.56, breaking the old record by more than ten points. She wiped tears of joy at the medal ceremony.

2. Japan's Mao Asada came into the free skate with a score of 73.78, skating to Bells of Moscow. Coming in after her main rival, she became the only woman to ever land three triple axels in one competition (one in the short program and two in the free skate). She had a dramatic opening, and went right into her jumps. While she landed her axels, she unfortunately fell out of one landing, tripped on her skates at one point, and had to fight to land her triple/triple/triple combination. She scored 131.72, which I thought was high considering her mistakes and her forgettable artistry, for a total of 205.50, and the silver medal. The rivalry between Asada and Yu-Na is not just a skating rivalry. It is a rivalry between countries and, in previous interviews, Asada has stated that if she didn't get the gold, the whole country could turn against her. I think it's a shame that this girl is going home feeling disgraced, as was evident at the medal ceremony.

3. Canada's Joannie Rochette came into the competition with a score of 71.36, skating to Samson and Delilah, with the whole world rooting her on. She was much more composed than she was during the short program, not even two days after the death of her mother. Rochette is just so much more graceful and sophisticated than the other skaters. She skated an almost flawless program, losing points when she fell out of the landing on one triple flip and turned a double axel combination into a single double axel. But the rest of her program was well done, athletic, her spins beautiful and she flowed with and felt her music. She was obviously determined to perform well, and she connected with her audience. Her score of 131.28 gave her a total of 202.84, for the bronze medal. She was warmly embraced at the medal ceremony, enjoying a longer reception than the gold and silver medallists. He dad looked a bit more composed this evening as well, as he managed a smile at his daughter's triumph. It was just so sad that he seemed to be alone.

4. USA's Mirai Nagasu has had her debutante ball at Vancouver. She came into the competition with a score of 63.76, skating to Carmen. She nailed the landing on her opening triple combination, getting a lot of speed and height. Her personality shone through her performance as she followed her coach's instructions to "Smile, smile, smile." She also landed all her other jumps cleanly and received full credit for her triples. Nagasu lived up to her rep of having the best spins in the competition, and skated a crisp, pristine program. Besting her teammate Rachel Flatt, Mirai's 126.39 earned her a total of 190.15, and fourth place, a personal best for her, and she jumped like she'd won the gold when she realized she'd pulled ahead of both Flatt and Miki Ando.

5. Japan's Miki Ando came in with a score of 64.76, and skated to Cleopatra. She admittedly is a jumper, and doesn't care much about her choreography or artistry, and it showed tonight. She did a lot of triples, but has no triple combination. She wobbled on a spin, just hung onto a landing, and was just slow. I think she was overscored again, given a 124.10, for a total of 188.86 and fifth place.

USA's Rachel Flatt came in with a 64.64, and skated to Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. While Flatt landed all her jumps, and had no major mistakes, she had two of them downgraded which cost valuable points. She skated a nice, clean program, but it felt slow, even plodding. She did flow into her spins and spirals and connected with the audience, but her downgrades did her in and she finished with a score of 117.85, and a total of 182.40, dropping her to 7th place.

And so my loyal readers, I thank you for following me and for your lovely comments. I am now going to the chiropractor for this crick in my neck from hunching over the keyboard for two weeks. Then I'm going to sleep for two days. Thank you for your support.

Sources: NBC-TV 10 Philadelphia; Ladies Free Skate Results