JULIAN SKATES

Samsung’s short movie on Malaysian’s road to Pyeongchang from obscurity

FADHLI ISHAK fadhli.ishak@nstp.com.my

JULIAN Yee’s against all odds story, which is about him rising from obscurity to qualify for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Feb 9-25, profoundly epitomises Samsung’s “Do What You Can’t” tagline.

Figure skater Julian and alpine ski racer Jeffrey Web are the first two Malaysians to qualify for the Winter Olympics — a feat nobody would have expected a decade ago.

The 20-year-old said it took a lot of sacrifice and determination to be where he is now, having to deal with the naysayers early on in his career.

Partnering Julian, Samsung yesterday launched a short feature film titled “Julian and His Magical Skates” which highlights the difficulties Julian had faced coming up in the sport.

“I would say most of that (negativity) was during my early years of skating. They (people) were still close minded and not open to the concept of having a winter sport in Malaysia,” said Julian, when met during the film launch.

“People would say, ‘What? skating? That’s for fun, that’s not a sport.

“It really took time for them to open their minds and see that outside Malaysia, there are sports other than football, badminton, swimming and all that.

“I am very thankful that once people became more open minded, everybody is very supportive though of course some were still surprised to hear of a figure skater from Malaysia.

“I will go to Pyeongchang... give it my best and not have any regrets.”

Julian, who is hoping to qualify for the final in his event at the Winter Olympics, said he felt touched when he saw the film for the first time.

The animated film, which can be viewed on Samsung Malaysia’s YouTube channel was fully recorded and illustrated using a Samsung Note 8 phone.

“Honestly I was mind-blown