The victory in the Montreal Olympic Games over Nadia Komenechi brought world fame to Soviet gymnast Nelly Kim. Honored Master of Sports and multiple champion of the country five times became the first in the world and twice in Europe. Nelly Kim leads the Women's Technical Committee of FIG, International Gymnastics Federation.
Nelly Vladimirovna was born into an international family. Her mother, Alfia Safina, has Tatar roots. Father, Vladimir Kim is an ethnic Korean.
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, parents soon moved to Kazakhstan and settled in Chimkent. Nadia came to gymnastics at the age of ten.
The attention was paid to the restless girl by the coaches who went around in search of promising school children. She began classes in the local sports school for Galina Barkova and Vladimir Baydin. The child did not have special abilities, but she immediately set herself the goal of becoming the best. She was very interested in the victories.
With a lack of flexibility and plasticity, the girl was astounded by her tenacity and incredible hard work. Nadya worked out the same elements to achieve the complete ideal dozens of times. The first award 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 leaders in it. They carefully watched the new girl. The student demonstrated her determination and courage, desire 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 third place in the exercises on the log.
Achievements
In 1975, the girl won the Spartakiad of the peoples of the USSR. She won the tournament in Europe in floor exercises, she received silver all-around and in performances on a log. Preparations began at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.
The queen in women's gymnastics was the Romanian athlete Nadia Comeneci. It was assumed that her main rival would be Olga Korbut. Unexpectedly for experts, Nelly Kim came to the fore. The girl won gold in floor exercises, became a leader in team performances.
The sensation turned around the implementation of the vault. It was planned the most difficult element of "Tsukahara", supplemented by a screw. Such a jump was not performed by any gymnast in the world. The favorite of competitions jumped before Kim. She performed perfectly and landed on both legs.
The girl was very worried. Her exercise was much more difficult, and to stand on her feet after performing the screw is an extremely difficult task. Estimates Komenechi were very high, even the young athlete has no hope of even repeating them.
However, Nelly performed the exercise perfectly. The stands literally exploded with applause. The judges set the gymnasts to a maximum score of 10. It was not just the highest mark, but the gold of the Olympics. Only a few lost Romanian Kim in the all-around.
After retirement
The famous singer Nelly Kim Furtado owes her name to the Soviet athlete. Her performance in Montreal shocked the parents of the future star so much that they named their child in honor of the girl. Returning to the capital turned into a triumph. With him, in the life of a celebrity, noticeable changes started.
The girl arranged her personal life in 1977. The Belarusian athlete Vladimir Achasov became the chosen gymnast. Nelly moved with her husband to Minsk. Her mentor was now Nikolai Miligulo. Kim now acted on 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 vaults with floor exercises, Nelly got silver. The star considers the world championship 1979 to be the main victory. After winning Kim became the strongest gymnast on the planet. The final chord of a sports career was the Olympics-80 in Moscow. Kim's achievement was first place for free exercise and victory in team competitions.
With her husband, Nelly broke up. She made a new attempt to start a family with the cyclist Valery Movchan. In alliance with him appeared a child, daughter Nelly. She graduated from the financial department of the University of Chicago, then entered the medical department, choosing a medical career. However, he eventually works in the investment business. A pair of Kim and Movchun broke up.
Having finished her career, the gymnast became the coach of the national teams in gymnastics. She was a mentor for the teams of Belarus, Italy, South Korea. As an international arbiter judged the championship of Europe and the world, the Olympics.
