Korea's Kim Yu-Na shines, captures skating gold

Korea's Kim Yu-Na shines, captures skating gold
The Olympic women's figure skating competition played out as expected Thursday night atPacific Coliseum in Vancouver. The reigning world champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea added Olympic gold to her resume after a spectacular performance.Kim scored 228.56 to blow away a strong field, relegating rival Mao Asada of Japan to second and Canada's Joannie Rochette to third.U.S.Discount UGG Bootsyoungster Mirai Nagasu surprised in her Olympic debut, coming through with a superior free skate to finish fourth, ahead of teammate and U.S. champion Rachael Flatt, who finished seventh.
U.S. 16-year-old Mirai Nagasu was wonderful in her Olympic debut. Not enough for a medal, but plenty enough for high hopes for the fugure. Waiting on the scores for the final count, but Kim Yu-Na of South Korea has landed the gold, Mao Asada of Japan the silver and Joannie Rochette of Canada the bronze. From USA TODAY's Christine Brennan on Twitter: Nagasu is done. One happy camper.wow goldAnd the Olympic figure skating competition is over. Score to come. 4th place?
From USA TODAY's Christine Brennan on Twitter: Rochette has gotten through it.Christian LouboutinWhat a memorable 7 minutes for her. Hands on hips. Looking around arena. Blows kisses.From USA TODAY's Christine Brennan on Twitter: Rochette combination looked terrific., but steps out of triple flip. ... AND THIS ... Rochette fighting here. Saved loop. Lutz next.
Rachael Flatt, 17, the U.S. champ and an Olympic rookie. She needs a big performance, and some help from the leaders, to get in medal position. She has a triple flip/triple toe loop early in her program.Nfl jerseysShe also has a triple flip/double toe loop/double loop combo toward the end. Miki Ando of Japan. The 2007 world champ and 2009 world bronze medalist is in fourth place and still has a shot at a medal ... but she, too, will need help from the leaders. She has five triple jumps in her program.
The reigning world champion, leader and heavy favorite, Kim Yu-Na, 19. She spun, jumped and twisted her way flawlessly Tuesday to a comfortable lead. The gold is hers to win. Kim plans to start with a triple lutz/triple toe followed by a triple flip. She has a total of six triples in her program.
Mao Asada, 19, of Japan was fabulous, too, in the short program, but she still has some catching up to do. She plans to open with a triple axel jump followed by a triple axel/double toe loop combination.ugg cardy bootsShe is one of a handful of women who ever had landed the triple axel (actually 3 1/2 rotations) in competition. She hit the triple axel/double toe combo in her short program Tuesday.
Canada's hope, Joannie Rochette, will have the warm embrace of the crowd.fitchShe performed beautifully in Tuesday's short program only two days after the sudden death of her mother. Will emotions be a problem this time? She has six triples in her program, including an early triple lutz/double toe loop/double loop to open. America's 16-year-old Mirai Nagasu will close out the night. She is sixth and will need lots of help to get into the medal mix. She has five triples and will need to hit them all ... and sell her program. A sixth-place finish would have to be encouraging for an Olympics debut.
The tension will start building, not only for the duel between Kim and Asada, but also for Canada's Rochette. On Tuesday Rochette, two days after the sudden death of her mother, performed beautifully and earned thunderous ovations. (Evan Lysacek talks about Rochette in an interview with USA TODAY. Watch it here.)Fasten your sequins. The planned programs are packed. In the final group of six skaters, Kim will skate third, followed by Asada. They went back-to-back in the reverse order in the short program.