Korean Rhythmic Gymnast Son Yeon Jae - The Next Kim Yuna?

Son Yeon Jae with her 4 Gold Metals / Click here for picture source

           I have exciting news everyone! Son Yeon Jae, a South Korean rhythmic gymnast made history as she won four gold metals at the Lisbon World Cup and you can find out more here. This is especially exciting for me and I'm sure for other Koreans as well, since this is the first gold metal that South Korea has gotten for rhythmic gymnastics! While we Koreans have been trying to patch up our wounds from the unjust loss of Yuna Kim's gold metal, here we can pump our fists triumphantly!

          Son Yeon Jae (or Yeon Jae Son, in the English name order, so "Son" is her last name) has been garnering a lot of attention in Korea because well, she has a pretty face (I've talked about what outer appearances mean to Koreans). Not only that, she's good at what she does. I first heard about her a couple of years ago, but I've never watched any of her performances or anything, because frankly, I was never interested. On top of that, I've heard of gymnastics, but never rhythmic gymnastics, so I wasn't eager to look into this foreign sports. However, with this superb accomplishment of the 19-year-old gymnast, I just had to look her up on YouTube, which I did, and I was just amazed. I didn't know such performances were humanly possible! You can watch a couple of her performances at the Lisbon World Cup by clicking on the following links: Ball ; Ribbon. These two are my favorite performances of rhythmic gymnastics, there's also the hoop and cudgel. I first watched these without any idea what rhythmic gymnastics is like, hence I didn't have the interest in it at first, but these are stunning performances and so even if you're not into this sport, go on and watch the videos linked!

Picture Source: Son Yeon Jae's twitter

          On a side note, I want to have a moment of spazzing out about one of the things I love about Korea. Fair warning, you may find it really weird - I just love how girl Korean athletes look with their hair up, so on that picture above, there's Yeon Jae and it looks like two other Korean gymnasts and their looks are just so Korean. I love it! Sorry, had to get that out of my Korean-loving system. :)

        Anyway, like I said, this breakthrough is so exciting for us Koreans! Does the Olympics have a category for rhythmic gymnastics? I know they just have gymnastics, and I wonder if Son Yeon Jae can do regular gymnastics, after all, her profile on the Korean portal site Naver just says that she's a gymnast. It makes me, a Korean-American living in rural America, really elated and full of Korean pride. Because the truth is that although Korea is grabbing more of the world's interest these days, it's still virtually an unknown country in this town I live in. Plus I wonder if it helps that Yeon Jae Son is a rhythmic gymnast, which isn't really a popular sport to begin with. However, it still makes me proud to go on bragging about Son Yeon Jae's gold metals. For a minority living in the U.S., it's exciting when the other country you belong to have some exciting news for you to share. 

       So is Son Yeon Jae the next Yuna Kim? Well the fact is, this question has been further raised with Son Yeon Jae's quadruple win, but that's the thing, it has been further raised. Son Yeon Jae has long been on the watch list to be the nation's next "sweetheart" athlete but this accomplishment of hers definitely has a significant impact on the hearts of the nation. I don't think Son Yeon Jae has started to endorse various products like Yuna Kim has and gone on doing what other mega-celebrities do, but I would have to say, she should be coming close to that stage.

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