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Nellie Kim

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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Vladimirovna and the family name is Kim.
Nellie Kim
Kim in 2018
Personal information
Full nameNellie Vladimirovna Kim
Country represented Soviet Union
Born (1957-07-29) 29 July 1957 (age 67)
Shurab, Tajik SSR, Soviet Union
Height152 cm (5 ft 0 in)
Weight47 kg (104 lb)
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
ClubSpartak Shymkent (Kazakhstan)
Soviet Armed Forces sports society Minsk (Byelorussia)
Medal record
Representing  Soviet Union
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1976 Montreal Team
Gold medal – first place 1976 Montreal Vault
Gold medal – first place 1976 Montreal Floor
Gold medal – first place 1980 Moscow Team
Gold medal – first place 1980 Moscow Floor
Silver medal – second place 1976 Montreal All-around
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1974 Varna Team
Gold medal – first place 1978 Strasbourg Team
Gold medal – first place 1978 Strasbourg Vault
Gold medal – first place 1978 Strasbourg Floor
Gold medal – first place 1979 Fort Worth All-around
Silver medal – second place 1978 Strasbourg All-around
Silver medal – second place 1979 Fort Worth Team
Silver medal – second place 1979 Fort Worth Balance beam
Silver medal – second place 1979 Fort Worth Floor
Bronze medal – third place 1974 Varna Balance beam
Bronze medal – third place 1979 Fort Worth Vault
World Cup Final
Silver medal – second place 1979 Tokyo All-around
Bronze medal – third place 1979 Tokyo Vault
Bronze medal – third place 1979 Tokyo Balance beam
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1975 Skien Floor
Gold medal – first place 1977 Prague Vault
Silver medal – second place 1975 Skien All-around
Silver medal – second place 1975 Skien Balance beam
Silver medal – second place 1977 Prague Balance beam
Bronze medal – third place 1975 Skien Vault
Bronze medal – third place 1975 Skien Uneven bars
Bronze medal – third place 1977 Prague All-around
Bronze medal – third place 1977 Prague Floor
Korean name
Hangul
김경숙
Hanja
Revised RomanizationGim Gyeongsuk
McCune–ReischauerKim Kyŏngsuk

Nellie Vladimirovna Kim (Russian: Нелли Владимировна Ким; born 29 July 1957) is a retired Soviet and Belarusian gymnast of Sakhalin Korean and Tatar descent who won three gold medals and a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. She was the second woman in Olympic history to earn a perfect 10 score and the first woman to score it on the vault and on the floor exercise, rivaling Nadia Comăneci, Ludmilla Tourischeva, and other strong competitors of the 1970s.

Kim worked for a long time as a coach, training several national teams, and judged many major international competitions. As president of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee, she coordinated the introduction of new rules in women's gymnastics, as provided by the new Code of Points, developed by the FIG in 2004–2005 and in effect since 2006. Her gymnastic appearances are remembered for "her strong feminine, temperamental and charismatic appeal".[1]

Early life

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Nellie Kim was born in Shurab, Tajik SSR, Soviet Union. She is the daughter of a Sakhalin Korean father, Vladimir Kim, and a Tatar mother, Alfiya Safina.[2] Later the family moved to Kazakh SSR, where her father worked in the Chimkent slate factory. At age 9, she entered Chimkent City Children and Youth Sports School 3[3][4] of the Spartak Sports Society. Two other children in the family, her younger brother Alexander and her sister Irina, also entered a gymnastics school and trained for some time. Alexander was harassed by his classmates in the secondary school for his small stature and retired from gymnastics in favor of boxing. Irina, whom Nellie considered more talented than she, retired because of the demands of the frequent training sessions.[3]

Kim's trainers were Vladimir Baidin and his wife, Galina Barkova. Initially, she did not have the required flexibility of many of her fellow gymnasts, but was soon able to compensate with superior technique and the difficulty of her exercises. Kim excelled and quickly became one of the best in Soviet gymnastics.

One of Kim's earliest successes was her victory in the republican Spartak's competition, held in Chimkent in 1969. Nevertheless, a year later she was said to "have no future" by celebrated gymnast Larisa Latynina.[5] After that verdict, Kim was close to leaving gymnastics but persevered with support from Baidin. At the 1971 Junior USSR Championships, her first national competition, she placed fifth in the all-around. Success in the national junior circuit, as well as senior national and international debuts, followed two years later. Kim won the all-around title and two more gold medals at the All-Union Youth Sports Games, placed eighth in the all-around and first on the uneven bars at the USSR Cup; she also won the prestigious Chunichi Cup in Japan. After a second-place finish at the USSR Cup in August 1974, Kim was added to the team roster for the World Championships, held in October, where she earned the gold medal in the team competition. Afterwards, and until 1980, she successfully competed in numerous top-level international events.

Kim's nickname among USSR teammates and team coaches was "Kimanellie," which she earned when a trainer Vladislav Rastorotsky called her very quickly: "Kim, Nellie, to the phone!"[3]

Olympics and World Championships

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Nellie at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Nellie Kim became one of the main medal prospects for the upcoming Olympics and actual leader of the Soviet team after the 1975 Canadian Pre-Olympics Test competition. At the Test she placed second in the all-around to Nadia Comăneci, but won three golds in the event finals (vault, balance beam, floor exercise), while Comăneci won the remaining one on bars.[6] Larisa Latynina, who had already changed her opinion about Kim earlier, described her gymnastics style as sparkling and cheerful. She also cited a comment by Canadian newspapers about Kim's performance: "There are moments, when a natural smile is more worth, than triumph". However, although Kim also won the 1976 USSR Cup, beating famous compatriots such as Olga Korbut and Ludmilla Tourischeva, they were still considered leaders by the media. Even the Coach Council of the Soviet team failed to define her as the leader. That was to prove a mistake, as later recognized by Soviet experts.[3]

At the 1976 Summer Olympics, the rivalry between Nellie Kim and Nadia Comăneci became the focal point of the women's gymnastics competition. Kim's teammates Ludmilla Tourischeva and Olga Korbut, the Olympic champions of Munich, were overcome by the two rising stars in the battle for the gold. Kim won three gold medals, one in the team competition and two in the event finals: on the vault and floor exercise. Music for her floor routine, choreographed by Valentina Kosolapova, was a fiery Samba, and one of the elements was the double back salto, performed for the first time in Olympic women's events. Kim also won a silver medal in the all-around, receiving the perfect 10 for the Tsukahara vault with the full twist, which was also performed for the first time in Olympic history. She was praised for her feminine beauty and the flamboyant, graceful and intense style.[5] Comaneci won the gold in the all-around, on bars and balance beam. Nellie's weak performance on the beam together with a lower preliminary score, led her to place second in the all-around, after Nadia.

After the 1976 Summer Olympics, Kim moved to the Byelorussian SSR (joining the Armed Forces sports society in Minsk) and represented her new club on the USSR team. Two years later Kim successfully competed at the World Championships. She won gold medals on the vault, floor exercise and in the team competition, and placed second in the all-around to Elena Mukhina, overcoming Nadia Comăneci. The greatest success came at the 1979 World Championships, where Kim became the all-around champion, beating Maxi Gnauck, Melita Ruhn and her teammate Maria Filatova.[7] Her floor exercise routine, choreographed by Galina Savarina, was accompanied by a new piece of music, House of the Rising Sun by Santa Esmeralda, which would also be used one year later at the Olympics.[3]

In 1980, Kim won the all-around title at the USSR Championships and successfully competed in the Moscow Olympics, her last competitive performance. She tied for the gold medal on the floor with Nadia Comăneci after scoring 9.95 in that event finals, and won gold in the team competition.[8] As of the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, she and Larisa Latynina are the only female gymnasts to defend their Olympic gold medal in the floor exercise event. After the Moscow Olympics, Kim appeared with a roster of other top-class gymnasts at Wembley Arena in January 1981 for a popular exhibition of gymnastic performances on floor and apparatus.

Later life

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After her competitive career ended, Nellie Kim worked as a coach and a judge. She coached the South Korean, Italian and Belarus national teams. In 1984, Kim became an International Brevet Judge and judged numerous international competitions, including European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games. On one occasion, her judging license was suspended by the FIG for a time, after the 1990 World Cup, due to allegations of cheating and fixing scores. [citation needed] After her suspension ended, she was judging again at the Barcelona Games. Since 1993, she has served as President of the Judging Committee in Artistic Gymnastics of the Republic of Belarus.

Kim's first marriage was to fellow gymnast Vladimir Achasov,[2] but the marriage did not last. She met her second husband, Soviet cyclist Valery Movchan, at the 1980 Olympics, in which he had also won a gold medal.[9] Together they had a daughter (also named Nellie), born in the mid-1980s.[10]

In 1996, Kim was elected to the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), and moved to the United States soon afterwards.[citation needed] As of 2002, she was residing in Minnesota.[10]

In 1999, Kim was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.[11]

At the FIG Congress of 22 October 2004 in Antalya, Kim was elected President of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee.[12] She helped draft the 2006 changes to the Code of Points, ending the use of the perfect 10 and introducing uncapped scoring for gymnasts. Some of the main causes for the changes were judging scandals at the 2004 Summer Olympics involving Alexei Nemov and other gymnasts. FIG officials, including Kim and Bruno Grandi, believed one of the ways to prevent such scandals in the future, and make clean execution and artistry the main priorities, was a radical overhaul of the old Code.

The move was controversial among fans and athletes alike. Kim and other FIG officials pointed out that the changes were undertaken with the help and advice of FIG member federations and many judges, as had all previous codes. They also highlighted that the system would be tested on major international events before final adoption.

In a 2005 interview, Kim said that unlike her WAG TC President predecessor, Jackie K. Fie, she did not receive any salary from the federation of the country, represented by her in the FIG. And that she works for the FIG on the basis of pure enthusiasm.[13]

In 2013, Kim was accused by Russian coaches of favoring American gymnasts,[14] a view she vehemently refuted and criticized.[15]

Kim was the subject of a half-hour National Film Board of Canada documentary Nelli Kim, co-directed by Georges Dufaux and Pierre Bernier, which was filmed at the 1976 Summer Games and released in 1978.[16]

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, she took Belarusian citizenship.

Eponymous skills

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Kim has a total of seven eponymous skills in the Code of Points.[17]

Apparatus Name Description Difficulty[a] Added to the Code of Points
Vault Kim Handspring forward on - 1½ turn (540°) off 3.2 1974 World Championships
Vault Kim Tsukahara tucked with 1/1 turn (360°) off 3.8 1976 Olympic Games
Vault Kim Tsukahara stretched with 1/1 turn (360°) off 4.4 1978 World Championships
Balance Beam Kim Gainer salto tucked 1/1 turn (360°) at end of beam C 1976 Olympic Games
Balance Beam Kim Free (aerial) cartwheel into salto backward tucked E 1980 Olympic Games
Floor Exercise Kim Double salto backward tucked D 1976 Olympic Games
Floor Exercise Kim Double salto backward stretched-piked D 1978 World Championships
  1. ^ Valid for the 2022–2024 Code of Points

Competition History

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Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
1971 Junior USSR Championships 5
1972 Druzhba 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Junior USSR-HUN Dual Meet 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Junior USSR Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR School Spartakiade 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
1973 All-Union Youth Sports Games 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Chunichi Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Druzhba 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 6 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
USSR Cup 8 1st place, gold medalist(s)
1974 Milk Meet 5
Riga International 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
USSR Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
USSR Cup 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
World Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 9 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
1975 Chunichi Cup 4
European Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Moscow News 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Pre-Olympics 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
JPN-USSR Dual Meet 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Cup 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
USSR Spartakiade 1st place, gold medalist(s)
1976 Chunichi Cup 15
Tokyo Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Olympic Games 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
1977
European Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
1978 USSR Cup 16 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
World Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
1979 Athens International 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Championships 5 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 4 1st place, gold medalist(s)
USSR Spartakiade 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
World Cup 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 8
1980 USSR Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Olympic Games 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5 6 1st place, gold medalist(s)

[18][19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Nellie Kim". International Federation of Gymnastics. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2006.
  2. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Nellie Kim". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e Kim, Nellie (1985). Schastlivyy pomost (Lucky Gymnastics Platform) (in Russian). Moscow: Molodaya Gvardiya.
  4. ^ КИМ Нелли Владимировна (гимнастика спортивная). Belarus Olympic Committee (in Russian). Archived from the original on 22 March 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
  5. ^ a b "Whatever Happened to Nelli Kim?". GymnasticGreats.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2006.
  6. ^ "1975 Pre-Olympic Test Event". Gymn-Forum.com. Retrieved 20 July 2006. [dead link‍]
  7. ^ Hulbert, Dan (9 December 1979). "Miss Kim Captures Laurels". New York Times. p. S4.
  8. ^ "Deprived of the all-around title". Boston Globe. 26 July 1980. p. 1.
  9. ^ "Lupita translates : Nelli Kim interview (November 2012) ("Nelli Kim: triple back on floor")". 3 December 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2015. Translated from: Дубицкий, Михаил (15 November 2012). "Нелли Ким: тройное сальто на вольных". Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  10. ^ a b Fisher, Barbara; Isbister, Jennifer (24 October 2002). "Nellie Kim". Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  11. ^ "NELLI KIM". International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  12. ^ "Grandi, Stoica Re-Elected". International Gymnast Online. 22 October 2004. Archived from the original on 10 January 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2006.
  13. ^ "I will command the parade!" (in Russian). Sovetskaya Belorussiya. 3 September 2005. Archived from the original on 13 May 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2006.
  14. ^ Meyers, Dvora. "The other Perfect 10: The half-Korean Soviet gymnast you've never heard of". Fusion. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  15. ^ "Rewriting Russian Gymnastics: Nelli Kim – 'Russian gymnastics has closed in on itself' – Lupita translates". rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
  16. ^ "Nelli Kim". Collection. National Film Board of Canada. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  17. ^ "2022–2024 Code of Points Women's Artistic Gymnastics" (PDF). International Gymnastics Federation. pp. 206–211. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Gymn Forum: Nelli Kim Biography".
  19. ^ "Nellie Kim". 26 May 2020.
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