A beautiful conclusion was made by the Korean national team at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

The “Queen of Figure Skating,” Kim Yuna, delivered a message of peace to the world at an Olympic gala show on February 23, gracefully skating on her final global stage. Kim showcased a flawless three-minute performance at the celebratory exhibition in the Iceberg Skating Palace at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Skating to the song “Imagine,” originally written by John Lennon with his message of peace to the world, and sung by Avril Lavigne, the performance added a beautiful touch to the end of the Sochi Games, themselves being held under the threat of terrorist attack.

Wearing a jeweled light blue dress, Kim appeared on stage with a background image of the Taegeuki, the Korean national flag. She sent a message of peace to the Sochi Games as she finished her 18-year career as the world’s leading figure skater. Kim was in the spotlight at the end of the performance, introducing the emblem of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

This last performance of hers was viewed around the world. Commentators at NBC praised her during the gala broadcast, saying that nothing has changed even though Kim only won silver. They added that Kim seemed to be even better than she was four years ago. USA Today put Kim’s photo on its front page and said, “While it is always a privilege getting to see the gold-medal winners perform one last time, the highlight of the Sochi gala had to be Yuna Kim."




Meanwhile, short track skater Park Seung-hi became the only Korean athlete to win a second gold medal. Park won gold in the ladies’ 1000-meter short track on February 22 where Korea’s Shim Suk-hee also won bronze. Park took first place in the final four laps and topped the race with a record of 1 minute and 30.761 seconds. She won her first gold in the ladies’ 3,000-meter relay. Park previously won a bronze medal in the ladies’ 500-meter race on February 14 where she initially took the lead but then fell twice, colliding with a British skater. Park’s victory holds more significance as she overcame the misfortune of the earlier stages.




In speed skating, Korea’s Lee Seung-hoon, Joo Hyong-jun and Kim Cheol-min won silver in the men’s team pursuit finals. The trio finished the eight-lap race in 3 minutes and 40.85 seconds, after the Netherlands, at the Adler Arena Skating Center on February 23. The fruitful outcome came after their competition with the Dutch team, which ranks top in the world, and their defeat of the Russian team, which ranks ninth in the world, and the Canadian team, which is ranked sixth in the world and which was the winner at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010.



By Wi Tack-whan, Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writers
whan23@korea.kr