Nelli Kim is a gymnast who has competed for the Soviet Union. She competed at the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympic Games. She is widely recognized as one of the most successful female gymnasts of all-time, winning a total of six medals throughout her Olympic career (five golds and a silver). She was the second woman in Olympic history to merit a perfect 10 score and the first to attain such feat on the vault and floor exercise, rivalling Nadia Comăneci, Ludmilla Tourischeva, and other strong competitors of the 1970s.
One of the main medal prospects for Montreal 1976, Kim faced an intense rivalry with Comaneci throughout the women's artistic gymnastics competition, particularly in the all-around final. She performed a Tsukuhara vault with the full twist and a double back salto on the floor exercise routine, scoring her an invincibly perfect 10 in the former. A weak performance on the balance beam together with a lower preliminary score cost Kim a victory, finishing second behind Comaneci by seven tenths of a point (0.7). She also assisted the Soviet women, led by Munich 1972 champions Turischeva and Olga Korbut, to defend the team all-around title for the seventh straight time, scored another perfect 10 to capture the gold medal on the floor exercise, and comfortably dominated the vault final.
Four years later in Moscow, Kim tied for the gold with Comaneci on the floor exercise with an almost perfect score of 9.950, and helped the homebound Soviet women successfully defend their team all-around title for the eighth straight time. Kim also succeeded Larisa Latynina as the only female gymnasts to defend their gold medal on the floor exercise at the Olympics.
Since her retirement from competitive gymnastics in the early 1980s, Kim worked as a coach for numerous national teams and a judge in various international meets. On 22 October 2004, she was elected the president of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee under the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). She also helped draft the 2006 changes to the Code of Points, ending the use of the perfect 10 and introducing uncapped scoring for the gymnasts. Some of the primary causes of these changes were the judging scandals at Athens 2004, involving Alexei Nemov, Paul Hamm, and other gymnasts. Along with the president Bruno Grandi, Kim believed that one of the ways to prevent such scandals in the future, and prioritize clean execution and artistry was a radical overhaul of the old Code.
Kim was married to Moscow 1980 cycling champion Valeri Movchan but they soon got divorced.
Olympic Results[]
| Year | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Women's individual all-around | 
|
| Women's team | 
| |
| Women's floor |
| |
| Women's vault |
| |
| Women's uneven bars | 6th | |
| Women's balance beam | 7th | |
| 1980 | Women's individual all-around | 5th |
| Women's team |
| |
| Women's floor |
| |
| Women's vault | 12th | |
| Women's uneven bars | 6th | |
| Women's balance beam | Q4 |
1976[]
| Discipline | Stage | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Individual all-around | Qualification | 78.250 |
| Final | 78.675 | |
| Team | Final | 390.350 (78.250) |
| Floor | Qualification | 19.700 |
| Final | 19.850 | |
| Vault | Qualification | 19.700 |
| Final | 19.800 | |
| Uneven bars | Qualification | 19.650 |
| Final | 19.225 | |
| Balance beam | Qualification | 19.200 |
| Final | Did not advance |
1980[]
| Discipline | Stage | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Individual all-around | Qualification | 78.950 |
| Final | 78.425 | |
| Team | Final | 394.900 (78.950) |
| Floor | Qualification | 19.850 |
| Final | 19.875 | |
| Vault | Qualification | 19.650 |
| Final | Did not advance | |
| Uneven bars | Qualification | 19.750 |
| Final | 19.725 | |
| Balance beam | Qualification | 19.700 |
| Final | Did not advance |