Bond Girl awes 'em; Rochette cries on ice

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – In true Bond Girl fashion, Kim Yu-na knocked off her rivals.

The most overwhelming favorite to win the Olympic title since Katarina Witt in 1988, Kim was cool under pressure with a playfully sexy and sophisticated routine that had fans and judges swooning Tuesday night.

Her score of 78.5 points not only shattered her own record, it put her almost five points ahead of longtime rival – and chief threat – Mao Asada.

“Usually I think there’s like a 10-point difference,” Asada said. “So I feel good there’s only this difference between myself and Yu-na.”

With two triple axels planned, Asada can make up the difference in Thursday night’s free skate. But it sets up the best showdown figure skating has seen since the Battle of Brians – appropriate considering Brian Orser is Kim’s coach.

Not surprising, either, considering the 19-year-olds have been trading titles since their junior days. Kim and Asada have combined to win the last two world championships and five Grand Prix final titles.

“It was perfect that she skated right after Mao,” Orser said, “because she’s a competitor. She’s very fierce.”

The “Battle of the Brians” was an epic duel at the Calgary Olympics between longtime rivals Orser and American Brian Boitano. Boitano won with what, at that time, was the finest Olympic performance in the men’s event.

Canada’s Joannie Rochette, skating just two days after the sudden death of her mother Therese, gave the most moving performance of the entire night.

“Words cannot describe,” Rochette said in comments released by Skate Canada. “It was hard to handle, but I appreciate the support.”

Fighting tears as she took her starting pose, Rochette composed herself and let her skating mask her grief.

When her music ended, Rochette gave a sharp exhale and doubled over, no longer able to hold back the tears. She tried to smile as she waved at the standing crowd, but couldn’t stop crying, and buried her head in longtime coach Manon Perron’s shoulder when she left the ice.

She cried through her marks, saying “Maman” at one point, and lingered in “Kiss and Cry” before being helped backstage by two Skate Canada officials.

“I watched her when she was getting ready to skate and she looked like she was struggling emotionally,” Skate Canada CEO William Thompson said. “I think her mother’s jumping up and down in the sky. That was the dream performance.”

Miki Ando, the 2007 world champion, is fourth, followed by the two young Americans, Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu – who fared far better than she expected after getting a bloody nose during her routine.

“Halfway through the program, I felt it running down my nose and just said, `Don’t stop, keep going,”’ Nagasu said. “I skated the best I can.”

So did Kim. (AP)