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Reading Passage
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Yuna Kim is one of the world's best figure skaters. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in
Vancouver, she set three world records. In fact, one of those world records broke a record
she set in 2009.
program and a
At the Olympics, both male and female skaters perform a short
seven
program.
In the short program, skaters have less than three minutes to perform
required jumps, spins, or other moves. While doing these seven things, the skaters also
have to show judges how well they can put these elements together into a kind of
dance performance on the ice. The long program is similar to the short program except
that skaters perform for a longer time and have more required moves.
long
Before the 2010 Winter Olympics began, many people thought Yuna Kim was likely to
win a gold medal. Certainly, there were other women skaters who had the skill to win
gold at the Olympics. However, Ms. Kim had an advantage. She had already set a number
of world records. In 2007, she set the record for the highest score in a short program
with 71.95 points in Japan. The same year she also set the world record for the highest
score in a long program with 133.7 points in Russia. Then, in 2009 she beat her own
record in the short program by scoring 76.12 in the United States. At that competition,
she also became the first woman to score over 200 points with her short and long
programs - her combined score was 207.71.
The next year at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, she broke her records again. In the
short program, Ms. Kim scored 78.5, a new world record. In the long program,
she
scored 150.06, another world record. This gave her a combined total of 228.56 points,
a third world record! Needless to say, her score was enough to win gold.
