KUALA LUMPUR: It is not only the Malaysian media that is closely following the exploits of Julian Yee, the country’s first athlete to qualify for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
He has also caught the attention of the foreign media as well.
The NBC Olympics official website, for example, reported on Feb 8 with a story entitled “Figure skater Julian Yee makes history as Malaysia’s first Winter Olympian”.
The report covered Julian’s beginning in figure skating right up to him qualifying for Pyeongchang along with all the challenges he had to face.
The New York Times, in an article entitled “A Lyrical Twist: Figure Skaters Perform to Music With Words’ on Feb 8, reported on Julian’s choice of song for his performance which differs from other figure skaters who choose classical music like Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff.
The Winter Games in Pyeongchang is also a first in terms of allowing figure skaters to use songs with lyrics to attract younger spectators.
Not just that but the Olympic Channel also recorded a documentary series with the theme “Far from Home” with Julian featured in the first episode entitled “Malaysia’s First Olympic Figure Skater Trains in a Shopping Mall”.
The documentary showed Julian’s amazing journey such as how he trained at a shopping mall and managed to qualify for a figure skating tournament in Germany along with the sacrifices made by his family.
Julian’s competition begins on Friday in the short event at 9am Malaysian time.
Julian, 21, needs to place himself among the top 24 out of 30 competitors to qualify for the final round (free skating) the following day.
“The weather here is quite windy so much so it has caused some damage to the Olympic village. However we are all safe and in good spirits,” said team manager Irene Cheow.
Follow Julian’s exploits at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npBbF7Ibdx0.
Schedule
Feb 16: Figure Skating (short programme – early round): 9am – 1pm
Feb 17 (Saturday) — Figure skating (free skating): 9am – 1.25pm