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There may not have been any Singaporean athletes competing in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, which concluded yesterday (Feb. 20), but a bit of a link to our sunny island was in fact present at the competition.

17-year-old South Korean figure skater You Young, who placed sixth overall in the women's single skating event, actually began her skating journey right here in Singapore, at Kallang Ice World.

Began skating at age six

You's family moved to Singapore in 2006, when You was just one or two years old.

She was inspired to start skating when she was six years old, after watching South Korean figure skating star Kim Yuna win gold at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics with a stunning performance, according to The Straits Times (ST).

Upon You's request, her mother brought her to Kallang Ice World so that she could try out ice skating.

She was apparently a natural at it; her former coach Raymond Cheah told ST that she managed to master the axel — a jump that requires the skater to complete 1.5 rotations in the air, and which typically takes skaters at least several months to learn — in only two weeks.

Here's a video of her competing at the 2012 Singapore National Figure Skating Championships just one year later at age seven:

Her performance nabbed her first place out of the five girls in her group.

Moved to Korea to further training

In 2013, You moved back to Korea with her mother, Grace Lee, in order to train professionally, after Lee saw that You's skating skills would improve significantly every time she trained in Korea during the school holidays.

Lee told ST that when they had been in Singapore, skating had been "just a hobby" for You, and that there were no systems in place to groom figure skaters.

"Over here, there are many professional teams. Young wanted to skate more, so a bigger place would be better for her."

Three years later, 11-year-old You became the youngest skater ever to win the South Korean Figure Skating National Championships, beating out Kim's previous record of winning at age 12.

You said in an interview that she trained a total of 10 hours per day — four hours in the morning, four hours before dinner, and then another two hours after dinner.

In an interview with ST in 2016 at her training rink, You said that she missed Singapore and her friends. She said that her favourite local foods were Chinese curry and roti prata, and that her favourite place was the Marina Bay Sands infinity pool.

Placed 6th overall in 2022 Winter Olympics

In the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, You Young was in 6th place after the short program with a score of 70.34 points.

She scored 142.75 points for her long program, which was set a medley of songs from Les Miserables, which gave her a total of 213.09 points and put her in 6th place overall.

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Top photos via Catherine Ivill/Getty Images and Google Images/Fuat Studio.