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Nellie Vladimirovna Kim (Russian: Нелли Владимировна Ким; b. July 29 1957) is a retired Soviet gymnast 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. She was the first woman in Olympic History to earn a perfect 10 score on the vault and the first one to earn it on the floor exercise, rivaling with Nadia Comaneci, Ludmilla Tourischeva and other strong competitors in the 1970s. Nellie 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 coordinates the introduction of new rules in women's gymnastics, provided in the new Code of Points, which was developed by the FIG in 2004-2005 and came into effect since 2006.
Early lifeNellie Kim was born in Shurab, Tajik SSR, the daughter of a Soviet Korean father Vladimir Kim, who worked in the Chimkent slate factory, and a Tatar-Russian mother Alfia. At age 9 she entered the Spartak Sports Society school in Chimkent, Kazakh SSR. Two other children in the family, her younger brother Alexander and sister Irina, also entered a gymnastics school later and trained for some time. Alexander was harassed by his classmates in the secondary school for his small stature and retired from gymnastics in favour of boxing. While Irina, whom Nellie Kim considered more talented than herself, retired because of too hard work in frequent training sessions.[1]
One of the earliest successes was her victory in the republican Spartak's competition, which was held in Chimkent in 1969. Nevertheless, a year later she was said to "have no future" by Larissa Latynina.[2] After those words 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. The national junior success, 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 8th in the all-around and 1st on the uneven bars at the USSR Cup and won the prestigious Chunichi Cup in Japan. After a second-place finish at the USSR Cup in August 1974, she was added to the team roster for the World Championships, held in October, where Kim earned the gold medal in the team competition. Since then until 1980 she successfully competed in many top-level international events. Nellie 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!"[1] Olympics and World ChampionshipsNellie 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 Comaneci, but won three golds in the event finals (vault, balance beam, floor exercise), while Comaneci managed to win only the remaining one on bars.[3] Larissa 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, as compared to Comaneci's one: "There are moments, when a natural smile is more worth, than triumph". However, although Nellie Kim also won the 1976 USSR Cup, beating such famous her compatriots 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 a mistake recognized by Soviet experts later.[1]
After the 1976 Summer Olympics Nellie Kim moved to Byelorussian SSR (joining Armed Forces sports society in Minsk) and represented her new home in 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 Comaneci, who fell from uneven bars, among others. The greatest success came at the 1979 World Championships, where Nellie Kim became the all-around champion, beating Maxi Gnauck, Melita Ruhn and her teammate Maria Filatova.[4] 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.[1] In 1980 she 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 Comaneci, after scoring 9.95 in that event finals, and won gold in the team competition.[5] Her gymnastic appearances are remembered for "her strong feminine, temperamental and charismatic appeal".[6] Later lifeAfter Nellie Kim's competitive career was over she worked as a coach and a judge. She coached South Korean, Italian and Belarus national teams. In 1984 Kim became the International Brevet Judge and judged many international competitions, including European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games. Her judging license was suspended by the FIG for a while only once – after the 1990 World Cup, she was judging again in Barcelona. Since 1983 she is also the President of the Judging Committee in Artistic Gymnastics of the Republic of Belarus. In 1996 Kim was elected to the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), and moved to the U.S.A. soon afterwards, where she lives with her daughter Nellie. At the FIG Congress held on October 22 2004 in Antalya, Nellie Kim was elected President of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee.[7] She helped design the 2006 alteration in the Code of Points, which will end the use of the perfect 10 and introduce uncapped scoring for gymnasts. Some of the main causes for the change were judging scandals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, with Alexei Nemov and other gymnasts involved. FIG officials, including Nellie Kim and Bruno Grandi, believed that one of the possible ways to prevent such scandal in the future and make the clean execution and artistry the main priorities, was a radical change of the old Code. This move has been controversial among fans and athletes alike. Kim and other FIG officials, pointed out, that this alteration was designed with the help and advice from FIG member federations and many judges, as have all previous codes. They also underlined that this system will be tested on major international events before final adoption. In her 2005 interview Nellie Kim said that unlike her predecessor in the post of the President of the WAG TC, Jackie K. Fie, she does not receive any salary from the federation of the country, represented by her in the FIG. And therefore she works for the FIG on the basis of pure enthusiasm.[8] In 1999 she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.[9] Despite the Cold War, a documentary film about Nellie Kim was filmed in the USSR by the Americans in the mid-70s before the Olympics and was aired in Canada in 1978. Achievements (non-Olympic)
MiscellaneousThe Portuguese-Canadian singer Nelly Furtado (full name Nelly Kim Furtado) was named after Nellie Kim. The Japanese Butoh dancer Kim Itoh was named after Nellie Kim. References
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