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Most of the country was up into the wee hours of the morning to watch figure skating queen
Kim Yu-na's first performance at the Sochi Olympics.
And she delivered on all the high expectations, turning in a breathtaking performance in the
short program, inching closer to securing what could be historic back-to-back Olympic
golds. For details on Wednesday night's performance,
we connect live to our Olympics correspondent Song Ji-sun in Sochi.
So Ji-sun,... we don't want to get too ahead of ourselves, but Kim got off to a perfect
start.
Hello guys, the IOC's official website announced that it was "Yu-na time" on Wednesday, and
Kim's skating showed the world that she is determined to go out on top in Sochi as a
multiple World and Olympic champion. With jumps on a huge scale... and exquisite
expressions, Kim skated an almost flawless program to "Send in the Clowns," to finish
the short program at 74-point-9-2 points. That's about four points short of the world
record she set in Vancouver four years ago. But some are saying she should have received
a higher score... as her skating was clean and she earned the highest program component
score here at Sochi on artistic expression. Although Kim had no trouble landing her triples,
Kim told reporters after her performance that she was a bit tense just before her turn,...
but she believed in herself and was relieved after her first jumps landed successfully.
After her short program performance, fans are now even more convinced that Kim will
defend her Olympic title and become just the third female skater in history to win two
consecutive Olympic golds in this highly competitive event.
"I'm really glad she got the best score, I wish her better luck in next part."
"First of all, it was inspiring, and I think she will win tomorrow."
But Kim needs to widen or at least maintain the gap between her and the runners-up...
as the top three are within a single point of each other.
Seventeen-year-old Russian Adelina Sotnikova captivated the home crowd with a stunning
performance... and is just 0-point-2-8 points behind Kim.
Italian Carolina Kostner also skated with great grace to "Ave Maria" to put her in third
place ? just point-8 points short of top spot. Fifteen-year-old Russian skating sensation
Yulia Lipnitskaya sits in fifth after failing to land her last jump.
Korea's two other skaters -- Kim Hae-jin and Park So-youn -- also advanced to the free
skating on Thursday as they qualified in the top 24.
Park So-youn is the first to skate the long program on Thursday at 7 p.m. Sochi time,
which is midnight, Korea time. Kim Yu-na will be the last... skating her
last free program ? dancing to the tango, Adios Nonino ? bringing the curtain down on
her unparalleled skating career and saying one last good-bye to her fans.
So, once again, a reminder, Kim will be skating in the early hours of Friday morning, Korea
time. Let's all cheer her on and help her to a historic
gold in Sochi. That's all from me for now, reporting from
Sochi Media Center. Back to you.
All right, thank-you Ji-sun That was our Song Ji-sun reporting live from
Sochi on Kim Yu-na's stunning performance Wednesday night.
Now let's check in with our sportscaster SJ for more on Kim's performance and the rest
of the day's Olympic news.