Kim Yu-Na’s Olympic performance: let the 007 cliches begin

So Korean skater Kim Yu-Na did a short program at the Vancouver Olympics utilizing music from James Bond movies. What’s sure to follow from sports scibes? Well, James Bond cliches, of course.

For example, there’s an Associated Press story carried on the FanHouse sports blog that began thusly:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Like a true Bond Girl, Kim Yu-na knocked off her rivals.

Nobody did it better.

AP also published an alternate version of the story that started like this:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -If the Olympics are just another competition, then James Bond is just another secret agent. And Kim Yu-na is just another skater.

No Bond girl ever did it better than Kim’s record-setting short program Tuesday night at the Vancouver Olympics. The 19-year-old South Korean, who carries the weight of a nation’s infinite expectations for gold, practically carved 007 into the Pacific Coliseum ice as she skated flawlessly to a Bond medley.

Wait. AP did yet another version carried on ESPN.com. It began like this:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Ursula Andress, Jane Seymour, Halle Berry — they’ve got nothing on the newest Bond Girl.

Nobody does it better than Kim Yu-na.

The New York Times, meanwhile, was a bit more subtle. Instead of hammering its readers with 007 at the start, the Gray Lady until the fourth paragraph in its story:

She glided onto the ice, letting a sly smile peek through as her music, a medley from James Bond films, began. Then, in the snap of a finger, she turned into a Bond girl — and turned on the magic.

007 music at the Olympics courtesy of Kim Yu-Na

Korean ice skater Kim Yu-Na used a medley of James Bond music for her short program at the Vancouver Olympics. NBC waited until 11 p.m. ET to show her performance.

Selections included some of John Barry’s scores, including Thunderball and From Russia With Love and a Barry-esque sounding selection that David Arnold composed for Die Another Day. There were also versions of Monty Norman’s James Bond Theme.

She scored 78 points, a record, for the short program.

UPDATE: Our friend Mark Henderson points out this wasn’t exactly her debut at using 007 music:

UPDATE II: J.A. Adande, a participant in the Feb. 24 edition of ESPN’s Around the Horn, praised the “James Bond moment” during a commentary at the end of the show after he won the game of “competitive banter.”