Kim Yu-Na knows figure skating history as well as she knows how to land crisp triple-triple jump combinations and bend her body into swift and supple spins, which is to say extraordinarily well.
The South Korean teenager, who performed a mesmerizing short program Friday to separate herself from the field at the world championships, is coached by Brian Orser, the Canadian entry in the "Battle of the Brians" that was played out at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. His nemesis was U.S. champion Brian Boitano, who won the gold medal on Canadian ice on the strength of a 5-4 judges' decision in the free skate.
Kim hadn't been born when Orser and Boitano traded world championships, but Orser has told her about the competitions he lost to Boitano and the ones he won and the thin margin that often made the difference.
He did it not out of egotism but to give her insight into the mental strength she will need as she tries to unseat reigning world champion Mao Asada of Japan, her most frequent and fervent rival.
"He was a very great skater many years ago. He really helps me to focus on my own programs," Kim said Friday.
"He really knows what I feel in the competitions because of Brian-Brian, and I'm doing that now. So I think he's a very good coach for me."
Orser laughed at her name for that long-ago rivalry and chuckled again when told she had praised his coaching skills.
"Oh, good," he said, smiling. "I still have a job."
He has done his job brilliantly so far, transforming a 15-year-old girl who never smiled when she came to Toronto to seek his help into a polished and poised young woman whose smile and smooth assurance shone through in every move in her "Danse Macabre" program.
More than helping her with jumps or spins, he has taught her not to fear competition. Being pushed can topple you or make you stronger, and Kim doesn't seem the toppling sort as long as Orser is there to guide her and make her feel calm in the most nerve-racking of situations.
"It's just because knowing what I know as far as being through it," he said. "Just how I went through it at that level and the Olympics and the rivalry and the job you need to do.
"When there's somebody else in the rink that knows what you feel, who you can actually go, 'OK, he knows what I feel,' I think it's comforting."
