Kim Yu-Na on Time Magazine's list of most influential people in the world

THE accolades continue to rain in for Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-Na, who has been named on Time Magazine's list of the 100 people who most affect our world.

INSPIRATION: Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-Na is named among Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world (Getty Images)

The 19-year-old, dubbed Queen Yu-Na in her native South Korea where she is treated like royalty, featured in the Heroes section of the list after her exploits at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

Kim is Korea's biggest female sporting superstar, with several major endorsement contracts, including car manufacturer Hyundai, US sportswear firm Nike, and the Kookmin Bank.

And Olympic gold in Vancouver, where she shattered the world record points score for both the short program and the long program has seen her royalty-like status sky-rocket even further.

Kookmin is understood to have taken out an insurance policy late last year with a firm of brokers based in the City of London to underwrite the possibility that they will have to pay-out the skater's $1m bonus, should she set a new world record - a wise move after her perfect performance in Vancouver.

Her appraisal in the Time Magazine list was written by Michelle Kwan, Olympic silver medallist in 1998, bronze medallist in 2002 and is the most decorated figure skater in American history.

"I have never seen a skater with such a combination of artistry and athleticism," wrote Kwan.  "From the first notes of her sassy James Bond medley to the closing Gershwin strains, Kim's inspiring performances in Vancouver changed the face of figure skating forever.

"Those six-and-a-half minutes on the ice left not only a mark in the record book but also an indelible impression on millions of young girls around the world."

Meanwhile 12-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams also featured in the Heroes list with Billie-Jean King paying tribute to the 28-year-old's impact upon society outside the world of sport.

"Serena, 28, is committed to making a difference in the lives of others. Her work with children in Kenya and here in the U.S. stresses the importance of education," she wrote.

"Through her charitable efforts, people are seeing her in a larger context.

"She has several interests - yes, tennis is one of them - but it is this new combination of success on the court and stability in her life that is creating new opportunities, for her and the people whose lives she touches."

But there was not such good news for Leonid Tyagachev, the former head of the Russian Olympic Committee, who featured prominently on the list of the 100 list influential people, after his country's sub-standard performance at Vancouver 2010 saw him feel the wrath of President Dmitri Medvedev.