Kim Gwang Suk
Encyclopedia
Kim Gwang-Suk is a North Korean female gymnast
who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics
. She is known for both her exemplary uneven bars work and for her involvement in one of the most prominent age falsification scandals
in gymnastics in recent years.
Kim competed in several major international senior meets between 1989 and 1993, including the 1989 and 1991 World Championships, the 1990 Asian Games
and the 1992 Olympics
in Barcelona
. She was the 1991 World Champion on the uneven bars, winning the event with a perfect 10.0 score and a routine that included an original release move, the Counter-Kim. Her ten would be the very last to ever be awarded in World Championship competition.
Due to her small stature and the fact that the North Korean Gymnastics Federation listed her given age as 15 for three consecutive years, questions arose about Kim's age and eligibility for senior competition. While her real age was never ascertained, it was discovered that the Federation had submitted inconsistent birth year information for her at least three times at three separate international competitions. As a result of the falsification, the North Korean women's gymnastics team was banned from the 1993 World Championships.
The following year, 1989, Kim participated in the World Championships
with the North Korean team. While she finished out of the medals on every event, her innovative uneven bars routine attracted attention. Her set would still be considered exceptionally difficult by modern standards, with intricate combinations of pirouettes and releases. Kim also performed her own original release move, a Tkatchev-front flip toward the high bar. The skill came to be known in the Code of Points
as the Counter-Kim; as of the 2008 Code of Points, it was classified as a difficult 'F' element. In 1990 Kim won a silver medal on bars and finished 4th on beam at the Asian Games
in Beijing
.
Kim's efforts were finally rewarded at the 1991 World Championships
, where she earned the uneven bars gold medal in event finals with a perfect 10.0 score. She was expected to challenge for bars gold at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, however, a step on her dismount kept her in fourth place (tied with two Romanians, Lavinia Miloşovici
and Mirela Paşca
), just out of the medals. Her final major competition was the 1993 East Asian Games
, where she won the uneven bars title. Her score was initially given at 9.912, which kept her in second place behind China's Luo Li (who went on to win the uneven bars world title in 1994). North Korean team officials filed a protest and Kim's score was adjusted to 9.925, giving Kim a tie for the gold with Luo.
, during the team portion of the competition, commented "Her milk teeth are falling out, which is a good indication she's not even 11." Even NBC
mentioned the controversy in their television broadcasts to American audiences.
Kim's coaches claimed that she had lost her teeth in a training mishap several years before the Olympics. This story was corroborated by photographs from past events, witnesses and video footage of Kim without teeth at the 1991 Worlds. However, there was no way to explain away the numerous inconsistencies with Kim's age.
It was eventually revealed that North Korean officials had falsified Kim's birth year at least three times, supplying different information at different competitions. The forgeries had been inconsistent at best: Kim's age was given as 15 for three consecutive years, but at the Barcelona Olympics in July 1992, her age jumped to 17.
The FIG punished the North Korean gymnastics federation by barring their women's team from the 1993 World Championships
. Kim, however, was permitted to keep the medals she had won in international events, including her 1991 World Championships gold. The same year, her country's government honored her by including her in a series of postage stamps commemorating North Korean world champion athletes.
Kim's real age has never been conclusively determined, and is left blank in her FIG profile. Birth years given by the North Korean Federation ranged from 1974 to 1976, and late 1990s reports by the Korean News Service claimed that she was 14 years old in both 1989 and 1991. Some people believe Kim was born in 1976; the more accepted consensus is that her birth year was actually 1978 or even 1979. The rationale behind this estimate is that the Federation was still supplying inconsistent birth dates for Kim in 1991 and 1992. If she had been born in 1976 or 1977, this would not have been necessary (to be age-eligible to participate in the 1991 Worlds and 1992 Olympics, gymnasts had to be born on or before December 31, 1977).
Little is known about Kim apart from her competitive history and her current whereabouts are unknown. In April 2008 she briefly appeared in public in Pyongyang as a torchbearer during the North Korean portion of the Olympic torch relay.
Balance beam: Back handspring-layout-layout; front aerial; back handspring-Chen; double tuck dismount.
Floor exercise: Full-twisting double back; double tuck; double twist.
Vault: Yurchenko-full twist.
Gymnast
Gymnasts are people who participate in the sports of either artistic gymnastics, trampolining, or rhythmic gymnastics.See gymnasium for the origin of the word gymnast from gymnastikos.-Female artistic:Australia...
who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
. She is known for both her exemplary uneven bars work and for her involvement in one of the most prominent age falsification scandals
Age controversies in gymnastics
The age requirements in gymnastics are established by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique and regulate the age at which athletes are allowed to participate in senior-level competitions.-History of age requirements in artistic gymnastics:...
in gymnastics in recent years.
Kim competed in several major international senior meets between 1989 and 1993, including the 1989 and 1991 World Championships, the 1990 Asian Games
Asian Games
The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organised by the...
and the 1992 Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. She was the 1991 World Champion on the uneven bars, winning the event with a perfect 10.0 score and a routine that included an original release move, the Counter-Kim. Her ten would be the very last to ever be awarded in World Championship competition.
Due to her small stature and the fact that the North Korean Gymnastics Federation listed her given age as 15 for three consecutive years, questions arose about Kim's age and eligibility for senior competition. While her real age was never ascertained, it was discovered that the Federation had submitted inconsistent birth year information for her at least three times at three separate international competitions. As a result of the falsification, the North Korean women's gymnastics team was banned from the 1993 World Championships.
Gymnastics career
Kim was trained by coach Kim Chun-Phi and was appearing on the international competitive circuit as early as 1987, when she performed at the Junior Friendship Tournament (Druzhba), winning a bronze medal on the uneven bars. She continued on to other international meets at both the junior and senior levels, including the 1988 Cottbus Cup, part of the World Cup circuit, where she placed a modest 17th in the all-around, and that year's Druzhba meet, where she once again placed third on bars and won an additional bronze with the North Korean team.The following year, 1989, Kim participated in the World Championships
1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 25th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Stuttgart, West Germany, in 1989 from October 14 to October 22.The scoring rule New Life was introduced for the first time ever...
with the North Korean team. While she finished out of the medals on every event, her innovative uneven bars routine attracted attention. Her set would still be considered exceptionally difficult by modern standards, with intricate combinations of pirouettes and releases. Kim also performed her own original release move, a Tkatchev-front flip toward the high bar. The skill came to be known in the Code of Points
Code of Points (artistic gymnastics)
A Code of Points is a rulebook that defines the scoring system for each level of competition in gymnastics. There is no unified, international code of points; every oversight organization—such as FIG , NCAA Gymnastics, and most national gymnastics federations—designs and employs its own unique Code...
as the Counter-Kim; as of the 2008 Code of Points, it was classified as a difficult 'F' element. In 1990 Kim won a silver medal on bars and finished 4th on beam at the Asian Games
Asian Games
The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organised by the...
in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
.
Kim's efforts were finally rewarded at the 1991 World Championships
1991 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 26th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Indianapolis, USA, in the Hoosier Dome, September 6 to 15, 1991.-Medals:-All-round:-Apparatus:-All-round:-Apparatus:-References:**...
, where she earned the uneven bars gold medal in event finals with a perfect 10.0 score. She was expected to challenge for bars gold at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, however, a step on her dismount kept her in fourth place (tied with two Romanians, Lavinia Miloşovici
Lavinia Milosovici
Lavinia Corina Miloşovici is a Romanian Olympic gymnast. An exceptionally successful athlete on the international competition circuit, Miloşovici, also known as "Milo" in the gymnastics community, is considered to be one of Romania's top gymnasts of the 1990s and one of the most prolific female...
and Mirela Paşca
Mirela Pasca
Mirela Ana Paşca is a Romanian artistic gymnast, who competed in international events between 1990 and 1992. She is an Olympic silver medalist and a world bronze medalist with the team. Individually, she is a world bronze medalist and a European champion on uneven bars...
), just out of the medals. Her final major competition was the 1993 East Asian Games
East Asian Games
The East Asian Games is a multi-sport event organised by the East Asian Games Association and held every four years since 1993 among athletes from East Asian countries and territories of the Olympic Council of Asia , as well as the Pacific island of Guam, which is a member of the Oceania National...
, where she won the uneven bars title. Her score was initially given at 9.912, which kept her in second place behind China's Luo Li (who went on to win the uneven bars world title in 1994). North Korean team officials filed a protest and Kim's score was adjusted to 9.925, giving Kim a tie for the gold with Luo.
Age falsification scandal
While the gymnastics community praised Kim's performances, they also questioned her age. Kim was tiny even by gymnastics standards, and many people did not believe she was actually eligible for senior competition. At the 1991 Worlds, television commentators made several remarks about Kim's supposed age of 15. When Kim appeared at the Olympics the following year with missing front teeth, standing 4'4" and claiming to be 17 years old, the skepticism grew. Several officials and coaches publicly voiced their doubts. Béla KárolyiBéla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi is a Romanian gymnastics coach. He was born in what was then Kolozsvár, Hungary, a region restored to Romanian administration after 1944. Károlyi and his wife, Márta, also of Hungarian origin, emigrated to the United States in 1981 and both have dual citizenships for Romania and the...
, during the team portion of the competition, commented "Her milk teeth are falling out, which is a good indication she's not even 11." Even NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
mentioned the controversy in their television broadcasts to American audiences.
Kim's coaches claimed that she had lost her teeth in a training mishap several years before the Olympics. This story was corroborated by photographs from past events, witnesses and video footage of Kim without teeth at the 1991 Worlds. However, there was no way to explain away the numerous inconsistencies with Kim's age.
It was eventually revealed that North Korean officials had falsified Kim's birth year at least three times, supplying different information at different competitions. The forgeries had been inconsistent at best: Kim's age was given as 15 for three consecutive years, but at the Barcelona Olympics in July 1992, her age jumped to 17.
The FIG punished the North Korean gymnastics federation by barring their women's team from the 1993 World Championships
1993 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Birmingham, England in 1993. There was no team competition at this meet; gymnasts competed in the all-around and event finals only....
. Kim, however, was permitted to keep the medals she had won in international events, including her 1991 World Championships gold. The same year, her country's government honored her by including her in a series of postage stamps commemorating North Korean world champion athletes.
Kim's real age has never been conclusively determined, and is left blank in her FIG profile. Birth years given by the North Korean Federation ranged from 1974 to 1976, and late 1990s reports by the Korean News Service claimed that she was 14 years old in both 1989 and 1991. Some people believe Kim was born in 1976; the more accepted consensus is that her birth year was actually 1978 or even 1979. The rationale behind this estimate is that the Federation was still supplying inconsistent birth dates for Kim in 1991 and 1992. If she had been born in 1976 or 1977, this would not have been necessary (to be age-eligible to participate in the 1991 Worlds and 1992 Olympics, gymnasts had to be born on or before December 31, 1977).
Little is known about Kim apart from her competitive history and her current whereabouts are unknown. In April 2008 she briefly appeared in public in Pyongyang as a torchbearer during the North Korean portion of the Olympic torch relay.
Major results
- 1992 Olympics: 4th UB; 11th team; 28th AA
- 1991 World Championships: 1st UB; 9th team; 18th AA
- 1990 Asian Games: 2nd UB; 6th AA
- 1990 Moscow World Stars: 1st UB; 8th AA
- 1989 World Championships: 7th team; 14th AA
Skills
Uneven bars: Tkatchev-Counter-Kim (original skill); 1.5 pirouette-straddled Jaeger; double tuck dismount; double layout dismount.Balance beam: Back handspring-layout-layout; front aerial; back handspring-Chen; double tuck dismount.
Floor exercise: Full-twisting double back; double tuck; double twist.
Vault: Yurchenko-full twist.
See also
- Sport in North KoreaSport in North KoreaNorth Korea has a blend of both traditional and western sports in which the country participates.-Arirang:Perhaps the most well known sporting event in North Korea is the annual Arirang Festival, held at Rungrado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang on April 15 of every year in celebration of the birthdate...
- World Artistic Gymnastics Championships – Women's uneven bars