KUALA LUMPUR: Samsung has created an inspiring animated short film titled ‘Julian and His Magical Skates’ based on the real-life story of a rising figure skating athlete, Julian Yee Zhi-Jie.
The film had a story line revolving around the hurdles faced by Julian in his quest to becoming a professional figure skater.
It was recorded and illustrated by using a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 S Pen.
The incredible story had touched the hearts of Malaysians and has currently garnered more than one million views by social media users.
Julian, 21, was given an exposure on the sport that was set to influence his career choice at a tender age of 4.
He became the first national athlete to represent Malaysia in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic in South Korea between Feb 9 and 25.
Reminiscing on his illustrious journey, Julian regarded the sport as his soul.
Born and bred in Kuala Lumpur, Julian received his early education at Sri Kuala Lumpur.
Julian said his friends used to make fun of him as he was always seen with figure skating shoes.
At that time, his burning desire of becoming an athlete in this field was not well-received by his peers as the sport was not very popular among the youths.
Initially he was demotivated by the lack of support, but his mother, Irene Cheow, stood firmly by his side and continued to cheer for him.
Cheow was the deputy president of the Ice Skating Association of Malaysia.
Nevertheless, Julian stayed true to his ambition and kept on training until he recorded his first success when he was 13.
According to Cheow, this was a result of discipline and hard work as Julian had to train many hours daily at the ice skating ring and additional one hour for exercise routines, as well as cardio and dance training.
From his breakthrough at 13, he continued to deliver more successes at the Asia and international-level platforms.
One of his sweet victories was being a gold medallist for the Kuala Lumpur 2017 Southeast Asian Games.
“My family is my biggest drive in this sport as figure skating is yet to be a hit among Malaysians. They also had to spend a lot on me to become a professional athelete,” he said.
“I need to have complete gear for this sport. Moreover, to become a champion in this sport, I went for intensive training abroad in China, South Korea and Canada to be under the guidance of experienced coach. There are also better facilities there,” he said.
A behind the scene video could be viewed HERE.
To be part of Julian’s remarkable sport journey, visit YouTube Samsung Malaysia.
Through this short film, Samsung would also like to convey a message to all users on breaking the barriers towards achieving our dreams via a campaign #DoWhatYouCant.