By Min Yea-Ji and Sohn JiAe
Photos = Yonhap News

The Korean pair of Min Yura and Alexander Gamelin, dressed in traditional Hanbok garments, slid gracefully on the ice to the sounds of “Holo Arirang” in the ice dance free dance event at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, at the Gangneung Ice Arena on Feb. 20.

Despite being placed in 18th place among a total of 20 pairs, with a combined score of 147.74 -- 61.22 in the previous short dance segment and 86.52 in the free dance segment -- the pair gave the audience more than the thrill that would be felt if they were to win a medal.

The U.S.-born athletes performed in a very traditional manner, in which they started with ice dance moves that seemingly came from traditional Korean dance, as the song "Arirang" resonated through the ice rink. The pair cleaned the first element of a stationary lift as Gamelin effortlessly lifted up his partner in-place.

As "Arirang" rose to its climax, Gamelin lifted her straight up and landed magnificently and perfectly, and loud cheers erupted from the audience.



Korean-American Min Yura has given up her U.S. citizenship and her partner Gamelin, who was born in Boston, is a naturalized Korean citizen. They are both competing under the Korean flag at the PyeongChang Olympic Games.

Their common dream as Korean athletes was to show the world the traditional heritage of Korea, their chosen nation, on the Olympic stage and that’s why they chose the song “Arirang” and decided on Hanbok-themed costumes.

Now that their dream has come true, the pair said after the free dance program that, “We’re satisfied that we were able to perform to ‘Arirang,’ a song on which we had insisted, here in PyeongChang. We’re so thankful that we were able to show the beautiful song to the world, even though today’s performance was not perfect.”

jesimin@korea.kr.