When you ask the general public whether they know who Nadia Comaneci is, the answer is quite commonly "yes" even if they are not gymnastics fans. However, if you were to ask about Nellie Kim, only those people who followed gymnastics in the 1970s and 1980s might remember her.
One of the reasons that Nellie Kim is not that well known, is Nadia Comaneci's rise to stardom precisely at the same time when Nellie started to be noticed in the gymnastics community. Nadia was always one step ahead, but Nellie was quite close behind. Though the Romanian was the first female gymnast in Olympic history to earn a perfect 10 in competition, not a lot of people remember that Kim was the first one to get a perfect 10 on vault, very shortly after Comaneci received her first 10.
Kim's rivalry with Comaneci became the main news in the media covering the 1976 games and, though Kim finished 2nd in the all-around competition, she won 3 gold medals, 1 in the team competition and 2 in the event finals: on vault and floor.
Nellie will always be remembered in the gymnastics community as the first gymnast to perform a double back salto at an Olympic Games. At the 1979 World Gymnastics Championships, Nellie won the all-around title. In 1980, at the Olympic Games in Moscow, she won gold in the team competition and tied for gold with Comaneci on floor. Like many of gymnastics greatest stars, Nellie retired at the 1980s Olympics, making those games the last time you could see Nellie perform at the elite level.
She later became a gymnastics official and she judged international competitions for the following years. She was the judge who gave Daniela Silivas a 9.8 on vault (a significantly lower score that any of the other judges) on vault at the 1988 Olympics all around, which was seen as favoritism towards Soviet Elena Shushunova, who ended up winning the competition. That is the only embarrassing incident in a career otherwise marked by amazing achievements.
Nellie Kim is synonymous with Soviet gymnastics, she was a trailblazer who left an indelible mark on the sport. Her dedication, power, and unwavering determination propelled her to Olympic glory, making her one of the most celebrated athletes of her time.
