1990 Asian Games gymnastics Kim Gwang Suk uneven bars

[madcowz2020]

she was probably put to death for not getting a perfect 10. crazy north koreans

[unevercalled]

she's so small yet she doesn't suffer a dead hang after her transfer to the high bar...no more excuses china!!!

[anne91276]

She really has the tiger in her! Amazing!

[SamrBrown25]

She is obviously a Ninja.

[loveetwilight69]

lmao at the sound the commenter makes at :20 after she does her counter kim!

she's so good! if you put in a harder dismount and a couple more pirroutes this routine would probably medal in some of todays competitions

[xGymCouture]

how old is she, like 9?

[radicalbacon]

She swings with such energy

[tristalista]

Incredible handstand positions.

[whitemagicgirl1]

One thing I know - there isn't a 10-year-old in America who can do this stuff. Kim was possibly the best bars worker in history.  And no criticism intended - for her to do it at this phenomenally young age is just mind-blowing.

[sugafrost3]

That was absolutley perfect. a few repeated moves but i was in amazement!

[benrobinson77]

Axtually Nadia Hategan did a counter Kim in 1994 Worlds, not Gogean

[espinaca79]

@benrobinson77 Gogean did it during 1992 Europeans and 1994-1995 exhibitions

[benrobinson77]

i know Asians tend to look younger than most, but she looks 10 years old (yes i'm exaggerating). im so glad gymnasts have gotten older in these days. a counter kim is the coolest move ever, i wish i was younger again so i could re-train myself to try it.

[LMA629]

@benrobinson77 i think she was actually only 11, 12 at most. she was one of those gymnasts who it was later proven that her country falsified her age. can you believe north korea actually tried to pass her off as 15-17??

[wexlerchick]

@LMA629 Kim Gwang Suk was 12 in 1990. She first started competing at the elite level at 9 infact you can watch her bar and beam routines from 1987 on here.

[xoRachelandhearts]

they definitely judged easier back then.I spotted 3 times where her legs were slightly bent. I'd give it a 9.75

[SamzIszHere]

dismount wasn't superb, difficulty was amazing in the routine.

[Hasoginy]

Her uneven bars routine is still one of the craziest I have ever seen

[GymnastChick1234]

more like 9.850

[mexis8]

Ranked 2nd?

who did rank ahead of Kim in this event??

[laur3nbaby]

Fan Di - she got a 10

[youcleverguy]

she's so petite.

[ctopanga]

that's because she was probably 11-12 in this video.

[meishmeal453]

That was sooooo cool!!!!

[Pinklemon12]

all i can say is......wow

[jacob2289]

WOW, so much difficulty packed into a routine! and in 1990!!! incredible!!

[mockslacker23]

i love how she is so quick on bars...it really shows off her confidence

[SUGARrushx8]

she is so tiny!

that was amazinggg!

[layanbitar]

the routine was very good beautiful dismount !!! <3

[Mdshdw]

She could have easily done a triple back dismount.

[GymnastVu]

that routine was sweet! North korea... hmm

[Princess142717]

Khorkina et le barres ne font qu'un.

Khorkina fait un merveilleux mouvement de gymnastique artistique aux barres, alors alors que la petite nord Coréenne fait un époustouflant spectacle accrobatique

[KseniaSemenovaFan]

it´s amazing!!!! but she is a little bit unsober oh what ever you call it in english!

[mka800]

Not drunk?

[AmelieYvette]

Unsober? You mean she's not sober? So she's drunk in other words? XD

[0liveoil214]

oh my goshh...gymnastics just isn't like this anymore that was insane!!

[saltlakecity2002]

Man, they must have taken that half a tenth on those bent legs on the Jeager. I thought the routine was awesome!

[twinsale]

incredibile... :) brava

[Crawkid]

I have but one comment for this amazing video :)

WEEEEEEE! XD

[iLoveMyiPod2008]

wow!! the score should have been like a 9.98. the routine wasn't perfect, but damn it was close.

[NonMatchingUnderwear]

Does anyone know where she is now? What happened to her post-1992? I realy hope she's alright.

[sqekcx]

she is alive. she participated in the torch relay of 2008 olympics in pyongyang

[No1ZmeskalFan]

Yeah I think back to flashes of brilliance in gymnastics history that wouldnt have happened had there been an age limit. Nadia wouldnt have happened. Girls like Tatiana Groshkova, Moceanu et al. DO AWAY WITH AGE LIMITS!!!

[TurnstertuhIris]

This is good yes! But if you let the age limits go away, the kids from age 3 or 4 work to hard. Than there is child-work, if you know what i mean. they work harder than a man from 50! that's not normal! so please let the age limit stay

[iLoveMyiPod2008]

I think the age limit should be 14 again.

[XXCCC85XX]

Karenlovegymnastics, you fucking cunt. Has your country ever produced gymnasts like this? That russian nastia can't even hold a candle to kim gwang sook. I'm sick of your people commenting on how bad asian gymnasts are. From what i have seen and read so far, it looks the chinese will continute to dominate gymnastics in the future. I'm sure your country will find the way to steal or trying to DQ chinese by countinue to bring up bogus age issue. Paul hamm is a first class loser and all round theif

[lulz4thewin]

I agree with XXCCC85XX, Asian gymnasts are just smaller than Western gymnasts. However, in this age, people are so quick to accuse that they are forgetting to think things thoroughly before judging.

[kalibeast]

So in an effort to call someone out for generalizing a country as a whole, you... generalize a country as a whole? That's just poor reasoning and a bad argument.

Kim Gwang Suk was an exceptional athlete, just like many other Asian gymnasts, and many American ones as well.

[66QQ66]

you must be kidding, Kim GwangSuk is definitely not "like many other Asian gymnasts and many American ones as well." She is the only one can perform Kim Salto on UB. In late 1990s, evne in team China, four athletes could do Mo salto. Put this way, til today, there is no single American UB worker will be remembered as much as Kim.

[GoBogi]

Actually, Gogean did that combination in the 90s (around 94 or so) and I think there was another Romanian who did the Counter Kim. There were others who did the move, but few people needed such difficulty to get to a 10 SV.

[QueenieQue]

Are you sure? I don't think Gogean ever did anything akin to a counter-Kim.

[chelseasav]

watch european aa 1992 -it's on her somewhere

[benrobinson77]

Gogean did a counter Kim in the 1994 Worlds. She hit it in the qualifying competition but she missed it in the eent finals

[benrobinson77]

actually it wasnt Gogean who did the Counter Kim in 1994 Worlds, it was Nadia Hategan

[luv4cookie1]

@66QQ66 what about nastia she is far better in terms of puiretting and form

[ChainChomp2]

@luv4cookie1 If you're talking about form you must be joking (bent knees on every backward giant, leg separation on every forward, froggy dismount). Nor does she have any special or eye-opening elements like this Counter-Kim at 0:20. Whether Nastia (or anyone in the world) was this world-class good at 10-12 years old (in the 90's!) we'll never know? Nonetheless, it's really hard to (accurately) compare two gymnasts with different body types and styles!

[happyjellyfish]

@luv4cookie1 Form? You must be blind. Her form and attention to detail is even worse than Steli Nistor, and at least Nistor had creativity and fluidity that Nastia really lacks.

[66QQ66]

so far, there is no single UB worker in US can be compared against Kim, face the reality, pls

[violaroadkill]

khorkina was better

[iLoveMyiPod2008]

trust me, she wasnt.

[mka800]

That is a good debate. You got four thumbs down (I'm taking one away), but it's very legitimate to compare the two. Khorkina had a style and grace that was unmatchable. Diffiiculty? Kim might have been more difficult. But it's about more than JUST difficulty.

[gemarno]

Khorkina et le barres ne font qu'un.

Khorkina fait un merveilleux mouvement de gymnastique artistique aux barres, alors alors que la petite nord Coréenne fait un époustouflant spectacle accrobatique

[danceloverSkye]

@66QQ66 there's never going to be, it's to the point where the US HAS TO BUY ATHLETES because they can barely produce their own much more the good ones lol

[chonglansang]

可怜的小金光淑，就这样被黑掉了！

90年的亚运会高低杠冠军是属于她的，为何是中国的樊迪呢？让人­费解！有谁可以解释一下？金光淑的这套动作依然可以在今天的体操­规则拿奖牌！当时，中国的陆莉有参加亚运会吗？

[maxpeezaay]

Wow, she's so cute. Why is this bs about age so freaking important? If she's the best she is?

[mistybabe5489]

because there are age limit rules and she broke them. but i agree that there shouldn't be age limits or they should lower them. it doesnt matter how old your are if you're the best

[stahrmonroe]

I know. Does it really matter? The girls start training and performing difficult skills early on, no matter what.

And what is all this gripe about the girls looking too young? Gymnasts have always looked 'too' young.

[QueenieQue]

Yeah, in my opinion, they should just do away with the age limit. Obviously, countries are going to do whatever they can to get around it, so they should just make it an even playing field so that any gymnast, young or old, can compete.

[mkandyunafan4]

So this is the North Korean gymnastist that has been mentioned in the story about the Chinese gymnastist age controversy. She is good I can't help but feel sorry for her because I consider her a victim of her oppressive country.

[annaisjesus]

She could be like 10.

Damn she's excellent, she practically flies on those bars

[junglyh]

unbelievable play.... so amazing

[valleystorm]

Asian always look younger. Around 14 is reasonable.

[lrjs93]

i dont think she should ever have been banned from gymnastics. If this is how good she was when she was like 13/14, imagine how good she could have been in time. She was better than a mojority of gymnasts anyway, i think they should have let her stay in the olympics, she is gold medal potential

[mistybabe5489]

she wasnt banned specifically, her country was banned from the next couple of worlds.

[RyanSmiley12]

She looks about 8, maybe 9..

How she passes for 15/16, I don't know.

[Amarventris]

14 years old, admitted on state run tv. banned from gym federation in 1993.

[Starlight697]

she is so powerful! i love love love this routine. and her handstands were perfect!

[PloiAm]

i dont think there is a video on youtube that doesnt have any arguing on the comments section. There could be a video showcasing different cereals and you people (myself included) would find a point to argue to the ground. Then some how race would be brought into the argument....never fails

[can1052]

lol  how right you are. Why can't we all just get along!!!

[tvloonie111]

wow she's so tiny!

[Sccr95Sk8]

didnt people say that she was underaged for begin so small???

[nchllltmr]

no that was true. she was underage. she had said that she was 16 at one point and she had had two teeth missing from the front of her mouth that they claim resulted from an uneven bar accident. Then North Korea had listed her age to be 15 for three years in a row so they were banned

[brownie2998]

I am a gymnast and I am half Korean half Amercian

[gymnastxbabe88]

good to know?

[czucksk84life]

tee hee, good response

[greenpufffish]

freakin amazing!! :D !!

[AndreeaRaducan4Eva]

I can't believe she got a ten.

[hannah1721]

She got a 9.95, actually. The deductions were mainly for the tkatchev and not getting to a full handstand after the tkatchev on the LB.

[czucksk84life]

yup, thats all i caught

[shannonmillerrox]

how old is she in this?

[Fireheart228]

Twenty-two, if my math is correct.

[gymweb]

woa....she looks very very very very young...

[audie83]

She does look very young-but then so did Shannon Miller (1992 Games), Kim Zmeskal, Hilary Grivich, Dominique Moceanu (aged 14 to 16 at their respective Olympics. They all looked physically about 10 imo. I think gymnastics just basically stunted or delayed their puberty to extremes.

[Un1234l]

she was 10-13 during the time of this recording

[nodaybuttoday01]

She's not 22 in this video, lol. She was the person where the north korean government lied about her age so she would be able to compete. She's smaller for sure.

[tonyhawkwiz]

no, she's less than 11. but it does take huge skill to be that good that young

[xplosive08]

this is awsome...and look at her...she is sooooooooooo tiny...

grat

[mogirldotnet]

First thing i thought: Holy shit, that's BEAUTIFUL!!! :)

[ram83160]

Me too!

[Sideflipsplit]

WOW

[isa1285]

Deserved a 10, no doubt!!!

[ispaht]

She has bent legs on her Jaeger.

[audie83]

True though it was hard to see with her speed-it still a spectacular routine to this day. She had enormous talent for one so young. It's a shame due to her extreme youth no doubt she was unable to put it together at the 1992 Olympics-though I still feel she was robbed there for a medal.

[robcantoo4u]

The only thing I have to say is Holy Freakin Crap

[gymbabe894]

DAMN, how old is she? lol but koreans, isn't it when your born, they count your age from one or something like that?

[missykorea10]

yeah when your born your one years old

[funnyfishes]

OMG... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!!!

[sdfgdsfgdfgsdfgdsgdf]

thats easy

[missykorea10]

please post a video with you doing a routine better than her

she's amazeing omg she's better than the girls i saw on the nationals gymastic w.e of america dude! omg prodigy.. if you can do better than her please show us

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Actually a counter Kim is one of the hardest known moves in gymnastics... Can you do one? (I don't mean to say it in a mean way, just wondering.)

[chc94]

This is the gymnast who caused PRK to get kicked out of international competition. Her records are one competition had her listed at 15, but there is more footage to this. Another competition had her birthday as different from this one. She smiles... and has no front teeth. Common on a 9 or 10 year old.

Many of the Communist countries were guilty of this and it's just coming to light now.

[missykorea10]

but how would that effect her performance? the older you get the more coordinated you are and she's like friggen amazeing they should really go on talent lol

[gymnasticsbabie]

HOLY CRAP that was so amazing!

[richelle1710]

omg, how old is she?

[xafixchildx]

She was 12 there

[krakenwave]

More like 10

[maggiebret]

This was a great routine but this girl couldn't be older than 13. I'm thinking around 12 myself. Someone needs to check her records.

[CiaraCartoonAddict]

i no whats wrong! when shes doing the giant her hands go the wrong direction!!

[CiaraCartoonAddict]

she could have not gotten a 10.0 because some kind of undergarment is showing, also, something is wrong towards the middle part...

[catirota95]

that was perfect!!!

[audie83]

Not with the form breaks on her releases.

[TuesdayPillow]

Give the poor kid a break. Not many kids at the age of 13 can do this kind of stuff. I haven't seen anyone do the Tkatchev to Xiao Rhuizi since Kim.

[audie83]

Don't get me wrong-her routine is magnificent to this day. I love Kim Gwan Suk-and I recently read on another site that the North Korean coaches were asked about her and they stated she is married and doing well-I had always wondered what happened to her.

Gina Gogean did the Tkachev to Xio Rhuizi (or Kim counter salto) at the 1992 Euros I think.

[kns0179]

Shes great!!

[gymnststickit]

that was awesome!!! and all of that without grips!

[shelinda]

nobody really knows the real age of her cause the north koreans never really mentioned it.They said she was 17 at the olympics in 1992 I think but she a teeth lick what is very strange for a 17 year old.she´s the best example that North Korea is a country full of secrets and lies

[audie83]

She was missing a tooth at the 1989 Worlds as well. I think she just knocked out a tooth-but she was surely about 10 or 11 at the 1989 Worlds. Of course other gymnasts in their mid-teens looked very young with no apparent physical maturity-Filatova, Davidova, Silivas (who admitted she was forced to lie about her age), an awful lot of the Karolyi gymnasts looked stunted in growth too, and Miller and Gutsu both looked like little girls at the 1992 Games-they were both in their mid-teens.

[czucksk84life]

wow, the only reason the judges probably deducted instead of giving her a perfect 10 was that form on her pak salto...

[pme888]

she did not do a pak salto in the routine

[audie83]

I think it was on her Jaeger where she bent her legs a bit. The Korean judge still gave it a 10 though.

[dAnThEmAn178987]

kajaRG back then it was more based on WOW and still form but if you wow the crowd and have just good form u could get a 10.000 but the best backthen had amazing form and big skills!

[KajaRG]

I know the best had big skills AND great form back then, not like now when all you need is a high A score really... (Look at Bieger, Kelley...) so that's why I am kind of surprised she scored a 10 in Worlds. Anyway I that release skill went so beyond Wow they tolerated the form breaks anyway. :-)

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

I hate Bieger and Kelley. They should be banned from gymnastics! =)

[Blackbeast87]

Why do you hate them???

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Cause their form sucks!

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Cause they suck at gymnastics.

[AndreeaRaducan4Eva]

Bieger, Kelley,Liukin, Memmel and Ferrari all have terrible form. All of the ones I mentioned should have been in your list.

[Stella1love]

SHUTUP!!

[opgymnast4life]

u r just jealos

[NewNewNastiaFan101]

you can't really say Liukin has terrible form overall because the only time it's really a problem is on dismounts and tumbling

on the bars and beam, and her vault her form is really good

[AndreaRaducan4Eva]

Maybe it may not look all THAT bad, but saying the others I mentioned even had OK form would be like saying Raducan had great form on bars. As much as I love her, her bar routines had terrible form! I know, I know, I'm going off topic.

[nutballetfreak]

wow shes really good!

[KajaRG]

I don't understand how she could get the 10, I mean her routine is so full of difficult and interesting skills but she had really bad form on her straddled releases, bent knees and flexed feet.

[JKP399]

Yes she was really young, she was born 15. January 1978.. Look at Wikipedia... She was only 11 years i 89 worlds.. And sooo cute, And here she is 12 years... Not bad to score a 10.00 I Worlds event final when you are 13!!!!

[born2act135]

she was really good. how old is she?

[whipback]

I really don't know but she looked really young in 89 so I am going to guess 14 or 15.