Korean Olympic Committee yesterday announced a commemorative coins will be issued next week to honor figure skater Kim Yu-na’s gold medal at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Kim Yuna won the Vancouver 2010 gold medal, becoming the first South Korean skater in any figure skating category to medal at the Olympic Games. This coin will be Korea’s first commemorative coin for an athlete. As of February 2010, Kim is ranked first in the world by the International Skating Union (ISU). She was the first female skater to surpass the 200-point mark under the ISU Judging System.
The silver proof and gold proof coin will be issued by Hwadong.com. Hwadong has issued commemorative coins for the late President Kim Dae-jung made in Norway and those for Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan manufactured in Liberia. The coins will be manufactured in Australia by Perth Mint and circulated in Tuvalu since Korea does not allow coins to be issued to commemorate a certain figure within its boundary. Commemorative coins in Korea also cannot be sold higher than the face value.
The coins will come in gold (22.6 millimeters in diameter and 7.78 grams in weight) and one-ounce silver (40.6 millimeters in diameter and 31.1 grams in weight) varieties. The head will contain an image of Kim’s free skating performance and signature, and the committee’s insignia. The gold coin will sell for 880,000 won (771.25 U.S. dollars) and the silver for 121,000 won (106.05 dollars). The commemorative coins have three unique traits. First, they have been manufactured by the Perth Mint of Australia, not by the Korean mint. The coins are being circulated in Tuvalu in northeast Australia that has a population of only 12,000.
“The Bank of Korea Act stipulates that coins minted by the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. cannot be sold to generate added value. Accordingly, we had no choice but to manufacture the coins overseas,” the committee said.
Hwadong, the company that sells the coins, said, “Since the coins are colored, we needed to look for a partner with the latest technology. Accordingly, we signed a contract with the Perth Mint in Australia. The Perth Mint got direct approval from Tuvalu to circulate the coins there. It will get royalties or commissions. It is possible for the coins to be circulated in Tuvalu, but unlikely that a person with the commemorative coins will visit Tuvalu and use them.”
Photo by: davecskatingphoto.comOn 25 February 2010, she won the free skate with a score of 150.06 points, 18.34 ahead of Asada, who came in second place in that segment of the competition. Combined with her grace and musical expression, both her technical score of 78.30 and her presentation of 71.76 were the highest of the night. She was the only one who earned nines in program components marks. She set a new world record for the free skate under the ISU Judging System. Overall, Kim totaled 228.56 points, shattering her personal best and own old world record by a margin of 18 points.
Source: English.donga.com, Hwadong.com, Wikipedia
