Kim Gwang Suk - 1991 Worlds EF - Uneven Bars

[smeetfan1234]

@bernardmvella lol sorry

[mgymnast99]

You know....Tatiana gutsu was the same height as Kim these championships...

[481095ymg2]

I laugh at the "age: 16" every time I watch this video... :p

[intldawn]

@481095ymg2 Me, too. One of the worst kept secrets in gymnastics. No way she was more than 11 or 12 at the time. But all the girls were so tiny back then. She was kind of hiding in plain sight. But she was still awesome. I've only seen one other girl do that first combination since then. It's inconceivable.

[Mastergymnast1]

AMAZIIIIING

[LoveGym96]

Ok she was underage.. but we all have to admit that that routine is sick!! Wow!!

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

This routine of course was very difficult and original but I do not think that makes up for the serious lack of form on the release moves. She never cleaned those bent knees up. Many gymnasts were performing jaegers and tcatchev's (i.e. Gutsu, Miller, Lysenko) with flawless form but she managed to do them this way and get away with no deductions.

[inpanopticon]

Someone should bring back the Merinich.

[smeetfan1234]

@inpanopticon They would. But you need to find a way to swing out of the reverse grip. Her transition out of it was acceptable back in the 90s, but its not found in the CoP anymore. Plus, there is a .1 deduction to change grip after a release move, unless you can find some way to swing out of it. But back then, it was ok to do it. Now you get a deduction for it.

[bernardmvella]

@smeetfan1234 Lol you stole my comment.

[Stonymypony]

It's a real shame that they lied about her age. She deserved better.

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

This is my single favorite bar routine EVER!

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

Is that 4'4" for height!??!?! Wow.

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

She never cleaned up those bent knees, not even for the Olympics.

[metsdudenj]

@gymnasticsloverxoxo Which is why she was correctly left off the podium. This routine didnt deserve a 10 given the easy dismount and form breaks, I had this at 9.95

[beautifulsarah100]

Kim thinking during the routine: "Hope I can do a good job, cause this kind of routine is gonna be a lot harder once I turn 10."

[LMA629]

absolutely amazing!!! and considering she was only like 12-13 at the time....incredible talent so such a little girl!!

[krakenwave]

The DPRK probably claimed that this was all because of Great Leader who personally choreographed her routine.

[yellowbanana104]

@krakenwave think so.

[moopoo66]

this was amazing all done without grips!

[lostlyrarose]

I don't agree with the age requirement at all, though it had good intentions.  The fact is, these gymnasts at 12 still may be training for 7 or even 8 years already. Day-in and day-out. And if they peak at 12 or 13, then that's when they should be competing. I think in general, most gymnasts peak at 16 or 17. But what if Miller or Nadia hadn't been able to compete before 16? It would be tragic.

[PinkGrapes10]

I'd just like to point out she is the only uneven bar gymnast EVER to have been awarded a perfect 10.0 score. Pretty amazing, considering she was probably barely 11 or 12 years old.

[kiwigymnast16]

@PinkGrapes10 actually, nadia comaneci received many perfect tens on the uneven bars, including the first perfect 10 in history. not to mention daniela silivas and elena schoushonova (doubt that i spelled that correctly!!!!!)

[moopoo66]

@PinkGrapes10 there has been much more 10.00 on bars then her

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

@PinkGrapes10 They have been tons of other tens on bars, the first perfect ten in Olympic history was received on bars.

[MeanestCoachEver]

@PinkGrapes10 Are you saying this is the only 10.0 to be awarded on uneven bars? If so that is false. If you are saying she is the only Korean gymnast to be awarded a 10.0 on uneven bars, then you are correct.

[MrJST94]

@PinkGrapes10

ever heard of nadia and het first "perfect" ten?

[thepineapple1]

north korean soviet bastards

[TwisterFlipp95]

although she bends her legs, i still think she deserved the 10 she got because back then the code was more about originality

[SuperMrpuffy]

O to the M to the G

[MaebySurelyBarely]

The bars were much closer together at that time, but who could tell, she's so tiny!

She's an incredible bar worker!

[guy0307]

Age 16. Bullshit. Just like the Chinese gymnasts. CHEATERS

[custardaghost]

@guy0307

Right. The PRK were still lying about her age in 92, meaning (given the eligibility rules at the time) she was probably born in 79. Making her at most 12 here. And she first competed as an 'adult' 2 yrs before this.

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

were you aloud to perform tuck double backs back then?

[MaebySurelyBarely]

You're allowed to perform tucked double backs now, too! (It's only a B - or is it C? - dismount, though, and if you do a D level dismount or higher, you get .5 added to your difficulty for part of the 'composition requirement', for a C dismount you get .3, for B you get 0)

[justinselenaluvv]

OMG SHE IS SO GOOD!

[ikissonthelips]

incredible!

[LMA629]

yeah didnt the korean govt. claim her age was 15 for 3 years? such an amazing gymnast, and so sad her whole team was restricted b/c her coaches had to go lie about her age.

[12bmills]

She had bent knees of her Jaeger. :(

[maxy7792]

yeah she always bends her kness on her jaeger, it happened in 1992 to <=-[

[mm9306]

what's jaeger?

[KseniaSemenovaFan]

jager is the salto she performed at 0:26!

And it wasn´t clean but she is amazing!!!

[midnightparade]

it *seems* unfair, but imagine being totally in form & potential to win titles, but being denied because you are "too young".

I understand the federations concerns, but you only have a few peak years then it's all over.

[gymn0brunette0hanley]

totally agree. she was in perfect form for international success, she shouldn't have been restricted.

and it's sad because she was really incredible. it wasn't her fault she was put out there and her age was lied about. i'm sure she didn't have much knowledge of it or much say about it at her age. i don't think she should have been banned.

[NonMatchingUnderwear]

The age rule is kind of unfair because the West plays along (generally) and countries like China and Korea often completely ignore the rules. Next year the age is going up AGAIN, so its just going to become even more uneven and we'll be missing out on great gymnastics.

[espinaca79]

I understand your point. I think it's not about her age or being too young, it's about the federation's lies. That is cheating and unworthy of the gymnasts' dignities.

[chonglansang]

kim, the best bar worker in the world!

incredible bar worker!

[12bmills]

This was a perfect 10.

[QueenieQue]

Well, she did have noticeable form breaks in her knees on just about all her release moves, but for the sheer dynamic quality of such a routine at her age at this time in history, I definitely agree with you.

[piggywong88]

I understand that the govt was wrong if what they did but seriously, i feel bad for the girl herself since she really was better than everyone else regardless of her age

[NYCBlonde]

I don't think anyone blames the actual gymnasts, they're children in a totalitarian system, what can they do? The fault lies completely with the authorities.

Kim was an incredible gymnast (both bars and beam), I hope she's doing well. The NK govt. pretty much hid her.

[intldawn]

@NYCBlonde I couldn't agree with you more. That's the way I feel about Dong Fangxiao. How could she stand up and say no to her coaches and federation who were using her to further their gain? But since the news just broke and Dong lost all her medals and results, everything is coming down on her head. The IOC has more work to do--they need to punish the federation and not so much the individual athlete in this case.

[gregorygutkin]

@piggywong88 the younger they are the better they are so it wasn't fair to the other competitors.

[yarahahrwe]

Younger gymnasts are lighter and less apprehensive, less worried about global competition. They listed her as 15 for 3 straight years. You'd really think China and NK would be better at manipulating historical facts by now :P

[RyanJRA64Abella]

Agreed.

[chohoyoung]

i feel bad they banned her even though she was crazy good

[lrjs93]

She is amazing, one of the best gymnasts i have ever seen. Even tho she was like half the age of all the rest of the people in the compotition, she was better haha x

[granolagirltoo]

Wasn't it discovered that she was actually only 11 years old when she did this? Something about the Korean gov't falsifying papers and dental records were used to prove it?

[nchllltmr]

well she supposedly had been missing her two front teeth when she showed up to this competition. her coaches claimed she had knocked them out during an accident on the uneven bars but there were obvious doubt. did you catch that they listed her as 16, 4'4 and 60 lbs. ? that combination doesnt even make sense

[zhangxingyi]

what would this have gotten with the new COP?

[Muahahax3]

She's like 10! What's she doing in the Olympics?!

[lokienvy]

Amazing. I'd hate to follow that routine! LOL.

[TuesdayPillow]

She had form on all her releases BUT you gotta admit that combo is amazing.

[opgymnast4life]

OMFG that was freakin amazing and she was goin so freakin fast she is a little power house

[gymnasticsforever95]

a almost deserved 10 :) id give it a 9.975 but if her legd werent bent on the yeager thrn id give it a 10! een with a simple dismount

[nikirififo]

This moviment is so interesting and fun

[HoneyGotMeHooked]

amazing

[ursonikki]

amaqzing routine though her yeiger was not perfect and i would not of given her a 10!

[rexus82]

gogean euro93, roschina98,yuqing and kim, were they the only ones to do this move?

[tbertoli]

Does anyone know what is the difficulty rating of that Tchatchev-front flip thingie in the current code of points? Who else can do (has done) that element?

[gilles574]

Gina Gogean did it in the European Champinonship in 1994 I think.

[eMthegymnast]

i dont think anyone has done t since the new code has been around.

[fruityliciousrhubarb]

Guan Yuqing of China competed with it in 1994 - the video's on YouTube somewhere.

I think she actually performed the skill better than Kim Guang Suk (Guan Yuqing had better form).

[riestererriesterer]

its an "e"

[expelliarmus1234]

it is an F!

[lepetitpoulet]

totally! it's an F ! and nadia hatagan has done in 1993 and 1994 (although not always succesfully and not in combination with the tkatchev) and gina gogean did it in combo with the tkatchev too, though only for one year. guess the romanian strategy was to go safe at the time, which paid off in terms of medals with the old scoring system. Finally, Laetitia Begue of France also did the kim, and i have to say she did it best, HOWEVER, again, not in combo with the tkatchev. Check it!

[yaoryu]

it's a 'G', just like the def and mo salto

[lepetitpoulet]

what is this, an uction? lol

no it's not a G, it's an F

chech "nadia hategan 1994 worlds AA"

she does a nice counter kim

[lrjs93]

well its a goood job she is good at the counter kim, since that is her signature move lol

[lepetitpoulet]

no, i was saying nadia hategan did a good counter kim at 1994 worls AA. get it now?

i haven't seen that move being performed in years and years now. i hope someone will bring it back in the next 4 years

[NonMatchingUnderwear]

Someone did a toe on version in a recent high school competition if you search 'toe on counter kim' but I agree, it would be nice to see more originality on the bars, and definitely fewer pirouettes.

[wangquanquan]

it's a F

[careafterme]

i've seen a couple of her uneven bar videos, and it looks like she does the same routine, with a different dismount each time.

[barndin]

Congratulations, you can see! (Through 1991 she did a giant 1/1-double tuck dismount sequence; in 1992 she performed a double layout.)

[Lakuilera]

calling her gwang suk kim is like calling shannon miller 'miller shannon'...

[lepetitpoulet]

i know! i always say Mo Huilan when in fact it should be Huilan Mo. It's so bad!

[arthur93]

no it should be Mo Huilan. Your way of saying is correct. chinese surnames come first before given names. I'm chinese, i should know

[whipback]

You mixed up her name, it is Gwang Suk Kim =).

[mightymouseizme]

Umm..no it's not. Maybe you should check your facts.

[ZhongGuoJiaYou]

No, her name is not messed up. Kim is her surname.  Gwang Suk is her given name. In Korean and Chinese, the last name always precedes the first name. Thus, Chen Cuiting's name should not be written Cuiting Chen. That's ignorant.

[molly2222]

Thx for posting this. This is the most incredible routine in UB. She should've won silver at least in the Olympics. Kim Gwang Suk salto is insane, no one elsecan emulate her with this routine.

[shermanator123]

she did not desirve a 10 if you look really close at her jager she has bent legs

[gilles574]

agree completely ! Miller and Gutsu were not better than Kim ! She should have win the silver !

[cahan]

It was a shame that the scores in the Olympic were inflated. She may had that small step in the final, but I feel that with the exception of Lu Li's routine, Kim was the second best. Shanon's routine may have a better landing, but her release moves and swing were not better.

[SchwarzeWitwe2]

I thought Li Li's routine was superior, as well.

[bbarz]

Too bad it wasn't in the olympics, she would have been the next Olga, Nadia ...etc....

[seiiircz]

this is one insane routine. She's brilliant! thanks for posting this!

[gilles574]

Oh thank you so much for putting the 10 of Gwnag Suk on euneven bars !!! So cute, so cute ans so damn tiny, weird... Poor Kim !!! Love this routine, perfect !