Post by Angela on Aug 5, 2006 16:55:55 GMT -5
(2005 World Championships Long Program: Star Wars: Episode II.)
Hae Young Choi is a defector from North Korea. She was involved with her boyfriend Soo Hwa Kangta in many underground political activities. The two wrote pamphlets, along with many other North Koreans, under aliases. She used the nickname her fans gave her: Golden Dove. And her boyfriend chose the name Silver Crane. In summer of 2004 they wanted to go to the American embassy to defect, but Soo and his family did not show up. Hae Young and her family (father Gi Soon, mother Bo Bae, and younger brother Chin Hwa) went to the embassy without them. Hae Young was captured by police on the way, and her family was already behind the embassy doors. Hae Young was taken to prison, where she was interrogated about the pamphlets she and Soo had written. She told only lies in response, and was taken to a cell which was next to Soo. After hours of being imprisoned there, an officer took Hae Young to his car and drove her to the embassy. It seemed like he was her hero, when in fact he was simply following orders. Their plan was to get her to unknowingly admit that she wrote the pamphlets, even if it meant living in another country. Her skating federation wouldn't allow her to defect, which meant that she would have to return to North Korea for Nationals and possible training, so they weren't actually losing anything. Meanwhile Soo and his family stayed in prison.
Hae Young and her family came to Pittsburgh, and she found a coach in Parker Janson. After a long and stressful season, she returned to North Korea for the dreaded National Championships, terrified for her life and for Parker's. The strangest thing happened: The day they arrived, Soo came to visit, saying he'd been released from prison, though they still had his family. In a private conversation, he explained to Parker that his purpose was unfortunately not a friendly one. He'd been ordered to distract Hae Young so that she would be unfocused at the competition and falter, and thus her skating federation would force her family to come back, permanently. Thankfully fortune smiled upon them and Soo refused to let her get distracted. But it almost wasn't enough: After the short program, she was in sixth place. Only two of the skaters ahead of her actually had decent skates. Thankfully they used the new system, so a perfect, difficult free skate could help her walk away a ten-time National Champion. Thankfully, the other ladies skated badly in the free skate, and she laid the gauntlet down with a brilliant performance that received a huge standing ovation from the crowd, whose thunderous applause convinced the judges to give her the title: If they had not, the scandal would have been out in the open.
Saying farewell to Soo was the hardest thing Hae Young had ever had to do. After the competition and exhibition gala were over and she stayed one final night to rest, she left North Korea for America once more, and Soo was sent back to prison. Through friends, Parker managed to buy Soo and his family's freedom, but it came with an additional price: Soo's grandfather passed away from starvation before they could get out. Soo and the rest of his family were given medical treatment, then sent on their way to New York City, where they'd always wanted to go. The Ice Champions tour was having a show there in a few days, and Hae Young was among the skaters featured. Finally, she was reunited with Soo in the place they'd always dreamed of seeing. They later moved in with Hae Young's family. Since she had her Soo back, she immediately announced publicly that she and their families were defecting, and she would represent America in the next season.
In December of 2005, Soo took Hae Young on a private vacation for just the two of them to New York City. There, at Rockefeller Center, he proposed to her. Naturally she accepted, and they set the wedding for April of 2006.
Hae Young qualified for the U.S. Nationals and won, then went on to the Olympics in February, which she won, and the World Championships the following month, and won there as well. She and Soo were married in a Disneyland wedding, by Snow White's Wishing Well, in April as they planned, and in May she discovered she was pregnant. They have already decided that, if the child is a boy, they would name him after Soo's grandfather.
(2006 Olympic Games Long Program: Ever After)
