The Soviet gymnast Nelly Kim gained world fame with her victory at the Olympic Games in Montreal over Nadia Komenechi. Honored Master of Sports and multiple champion of the country five times became the first in the world and twice in Europe. Nelly Kim chairs the women's technical committee at FIG, the International Gymnastics Federation.
Nelly Vladimirovna was born in an international family. Her mother, Alfia Safina, has Tatar roots. Father, Vladimir Kim, is an ethnic Korean.
The road to big sport
The biography of the future celebrity began in 1957. The girl was born in the city of Shurab on July 29. Together with the baby, the parents soon moved to Kazakhstan and settled in Chimkent. Nadya came to gymnastics at the age of ten.
The coaches who went around the school in search of promising children drew attention to the restless girl. She began classes at the local youth sports school with Galina Barkova and Vladimir Baydin. The child did not have special abilities, but she immediately set for herself the goal of becoming the best. Victories interested her very much.
With a lack of flexibility and plasticity, the girl amazed with perseverance and incredible hard work. Nadya practiced the same elements dozens of times to achieve the fullest ideal. The first prize for the young gymnast was the prize of the junior tournament in Tashkent. The first victory was followed by others.
Nelly quickly became the strongest athlete in Kazakhstan, she was invited to the national team. Olga Korbut and Lyudmila Turishcheva were in the lead. They carefully looked at the new girl. The student demonstrated her determination and courage, aspiration for victories from the first moments.
She made her debut as a member of the national team at the world championship in 1974. The athlete refused to withdraw from the competition, having received a serious injury while performing a vault. She continued her performance and won the third place in the balance beam exercises.
Achievements
In 1975, the girl won the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. She won the tournament in Europe in floor exercise, received silver in the all-around and in performances on the balance beam. Training began at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.
The queen in women's gymnastics was the Romanian athlete Nadia Komeneci. It was assumed that Olga Korbut would become her main rival. Unexpectedly for specialists, Nelly Kim was in the foreground. The girl won gold in floor exercises, became a leader in team performances.
The performance of the vault turned into a sensation. The most complex element "tsukahara" was planned, supplemented by a propeller. No gymnast in the world has performed such a jump. The favorite of the competition jumped in front of Kim. She performed perfectly and landed on both feet.
The girl was very worried. Her exercise was much more difficult, and standing on her feet after performing the screw was an extremely difficult task. Komaneci's grades were very high, and the young athlete has no hope of repeating them.
However, Nelly did the exercise perfectly. The stands literally exploded with applause. The judges gave the gymnasts the maximum score, 10. It was not just the highest mark, but the gold of the Olympics. Only a few lost to the Romanian Kim in the all-around.
After retirement
The famous singer Nelly Kim Furtado owes her name to a Soviet athlete. Her performance in Montreal shocked the parents of the future star so much that they named their child after the girl. The return to the capital turned into a triumph. With him, noticeable changes started in the life of a celebrity.
The girl arranged her personal life in 1977. The Belarusian athlete Vladimir Achasov became the chosen one of the gymnast. Nelly moved with her husband to Minsk. Her mentor was now Nikolai Miligulo. Now Kim played for the national team of Belarus at the national championship. In 1978, the athlete was the first in the team championship.
In the all-around and vault with floor exercises, Nelly got silver. The star considers the 1979 world championship to be the main victory. After the win, Kim became the strongest gymnast on the planet. The final chord of his sports career was the Olympics-80 in Moscow. Kim's achievement was the first place for the floor exercise and victory in the team competition.
Nellie broke up with her husband. She made a new attempt to start a family with the cyclist Valery Movchan. In alliance with him, a child appeared, the daughter of Nelly. She graduated from the University of Chicago Finance, then went on to medical, pursuing a medical career. However, he works as a result in the investment business. The couple of Kim and Movchun broke up.
After finishing her career, the gymnast became the coach of the national teams in artistic gymnastics. She was a mentor for the teams of Belarus, Italy, South Korea. As an international referee, she judged the European and world championships, the Olympics.
New plans
In 2004, Kim was elected President of the Women's Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation. At the initiative of the athlete, a new refereeing system was introduced. More attention was paid to the artistic component of the program.
Nelly entered the International Artistic Gymnastics Hall of Fame in Oklahoma, was elected Vice President of the FIG. She is responsible for international relations as Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Gymnastics Association.
In 2010, the athlete became a graduate student of the PF Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Health. At the Department of Theory and Methodology of Gymnastics, she defended her dissertation, becoming a candidate of pedagogical sciences.
The theme of her work, Kim chose the training of highly qualified judges in a discipline very familiar to her. Evaluation should be based on the purity of the element performed and the artistic component, not just the technique.
The athlete is confident that a reform is needed to reduce the risk of injury and the end of the race for super-complex elements that are dangerous to the health of gymnasts.
