Spelling test: Why we spelled figure skating champ's name 'Kim Yuna'

I have received many e-mails about Tribune newspapers' decision to spell the name of the 2010 Olympic women's figure skating champion "Kim Yuna" (no hyphen) instead of "Kim Yu-na" (hyphen), as is common usage when one transliterates South Korean names into English.

With the frenetic work schedule at the Olympics, I have not had time to respond to all of them.

So I will do it here by linking you to my response to this question when a reader posed it after Kim won the 2009 world title in March.

As you will see, I did research before deciding to spell it as we did.

Click here to read that blog post, titled, "No Matter How You Write It, Kim Spells Greatness.''

-- Philip Hersh in Vancouver, Canada

Photo: Kim Yuna does an Ina Bauer at a gala Saturday. Credit: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images

Figure skating trumps 'American Idol', and NBC's Scott Hamilton cries

For the second time in two weeks, the previously untouchable "American Idol" television show on Fox was beaten by NBC's Olympic coverage Thursday night. That coverage included Americans Billy Demong and Johnny Spillane going 1-2 in a Nordic combined event, the men's aerials and, most importantly, the long program for the ladies in figure skating.

During the 8-9 p.m. hour, when the Olympics went head-to-head with "Idol," NBC averaged 19.2 million viewers to Idol's 17.8, according to the Nielsen ratings. NBC averaged 22.9 million viewers on the night. The top group of six skaters featuring eventual gold medalists Kim Yuna as well as silver medalist Mao Asada; Canada's Joannie Rochette, who won bronze only five days after her mother died of a heart attack in a Vancouver, Canada, hotel room; and 16-year-old American Mirai Nagasu, who skated the best long program of her life to move from sixth to fourth.

In a statement, Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics, said the win over "American Idol" was unexpected. "I never thought we would have the good fortune to beat the incredibly well-produced and enduring phenomenon of 'American Idol' even once," Ebersol said. "But twice?...We are happy to rent 'Idol's' space for a few nights."

And it turns out the hour when NBC beat "Idol" was its least-watched hour of the night (so it doesn't take a genius to figure out where "Idol" viewers turned when their show was finished). The Olympics' two wins over "Idol" are the first time any program has beaten the talent-finding show since May 17, 2004.

Sarah D. Morris: A figure skating competition worth remembering

The ladies figure skating in the Vancouver Olympic Games was the greatest competition ever. Although for the first time since 1968 no American earned a medal, the two American teenagers did our country proud. Kim Yuna won the gold medal, the first Korean to medal in figure skating. Mao Asada of Japan landed at least two triple axels during the Olympic competition, becoming the first woman to do so in the Olympics.  Overcoming personal tragedy, Joannie Rochette of Canada earned the bronze. Mirai Nagasu from Arcadia, California, skated her personal best to finish in fourth place.

I have watched ladies' figure skating all of my life, and I don't remember seeing such a flawless and emotionally-charged Olympic competition. Falls usually mar and destroy the feeling of awe in the Olympic figure skating. However, every lady in the top group displayed the incredible combination of athletic expertise and graceful beauty.No one could take their eyes off the beautiful skating. 

Coming into the competition, the marquee event of every Winter Olympics, everyone expected Yu-Na to win the gold. In South Korea, she has become a national hero and selling everything.  If she didn't win, many people would have been disappointed and her country would have seen her as a failure. 

Yuna, coached by two-time Olympic silver medalist Brian Orser, performed beautifully. The reining the World Champion handled the incredible probably unfair pressure well and gave one of the greatest long programs in the history of the sport. She landed every jump on one foot with elegance. While her athleticism was apparent, she didn't ignore the spins or the footwork. She skated third in the last group.  However, as soon as she finished, everyone knew Yuna accomplished her goal and still is a Korean national hero.

Kim Yuna coasts to gold medal in women's figure skating

Kim Yuna got the big victory in her back-and-forth rivalry with Mao Asada of Japan.

Yuna scored a staggering 150.06 points in the free program Thursday night and coasted to a gold medal in women's figure skating with a total of 228.56 points.

Asada won the silver with a score of 205.50 points. 

Crowd favorite Joannie Rochette of Canada won the bronze with 202.64 points.

U.S. skaters Mirai Nagasu and Rachael Flatt finished fourth and seventh, respectively.

But all the talk was of Kim and Asada.

“Having these two women fairly close and skating well and creating this rivalry that's been there in the past ... it's just good for the audience,” Brian Orser, Kim's coach, said. “It will keep everybody on the edge of their seats. It's exciting, and it's exciting for Yuna.”

-- Houston Mitchell

Photo: Kim Yuna performs a spin during her free skate on Thursday night. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times
   

For Orser, hope that Kim can help a good guy finish first

Maybe it's because Brian Orser "skates" along with South Korea's Kim Yuna as she performs her figure skating programs, doing little hops and turns as he stands behind the rink boards.

Or maybe it's because he came so frustratingly close to two Olympic gold medals. Orser won both the short and long programs in 1984 but lost to Scott Hamilton because of compulsory figures, then lost to Brian Boitano in 1988 in a 5-4 decision ultimately decided by a single score on the card of one judge.

Whatever the reasons, there is a feeling that a Kim triumph Thursday night will give Orser, her coach, the gold he so badly wanted.

"Just about everybody asks me, 'Are you going to get your gold finally?'"'' Orser said. "And I answer, 'No, she will get it. This is her Olympics.'

"Each time someone says that it's like a stab in the back to me and a bit of an insult to her."'

That doesn't mean a lot of folks in the figure skating world won't be rooting for both Kim and Orser.

Take 1976 Olympic champion Dorothy Hamill.

"I want Brian Orser to win," Hamill said. "Isn't that terrible?"

Women's figure skating short program results

In setting a world record for a short program, Kim Yuna equaled or bested the scores of her two closest competitors in six of eight required elements, plus the program component category.

Kim Yuna of South Korea leads after women's figure skating short program

Kim Yuna of South Korea leads after the short program of the women's figure skating event on Tuesday at the Vancouver Olympics. Yuna, who skated to a James Bond medley, scored 78.50 points.

Mao Asada of Japan is in second place with 73.78 points after she skated to the "Waltz Masquerade" by Aram Khatchaturian.

Canada's Joannie Rochette, whose mother passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack on Sunday, received a lengthy standing ovation after she finished. She skated to "La Cumparsita" and received 71.36 points, putting her in third place.

Miki Ando of Japan skated to "Requiem" by Mozart and finished with 64.76 points, good for fourth place.

Rachael Flatt of the U.S., skating to "Sing Sing Sing," is in fifth place with 64.64 points

Mirai Nagasu of the U.S., skating to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack, is in sixth place with 63.76 points. Her nose started bleeding midway through her performance.

“Halfway there I felt stuff running down my nose and thinking ‘don’t think about it just keep going.’ My performance tonight wasn’t as good as nationals, I’m a little disappointed but I think the next Olympics I’ll know how to feel.”

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

Photo: Kim Yuna of South Korea competes during the short program Tuesday night. Credit: Richard Mackson / U.S. Presswire