Miki Ando defeats Kim Yuna (UPDATED)

Japan's darling of skating Miki Ando, showing her disdain for all the South Koreans who donated tens of millions of dollars to help the victims of the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster, defeated the reigning ice queen Kim Yuna at the Figure Skating World Championship in Moscow.

"I was skating for Japan," Ms Ando said. And we all know exactly what that means.

Miki Ando throws up a little in her mouth when asked
by a reporter what she thinks of Korea.

Seriously, though, mucho congratulations to Ms Ando, who is an incredible skater. The friendly rivalry between Kim Yuna and the top Japanese skaters (to include Mao Asada) makes it all the more interesting to watch (and yeah, it is interesting). I'll go on record as saying it's a little less fun if Kim Yuna wins every time.

Moreover, this kind of thing might be enough to lift the spirits of a lot of people in Japan. The Tohoku tragedy was a nightmare in the middle of a malaise, something that is palpable when talking to young and old from Japan, and I so want for Japanese to rise up and see a bright future on the horizon.

UPDATE:
Kim Yuna has announced through her agent that she will donate the $27,000 prize money from her silver medal finish to UNICEF's relief efforts in Japan. Class act all the way.