Nelli Kim comes home to Kazakhstan

 

 

 

 

Lupita translates a Prosport interview with 1976 and 1980 Olympic Champion, President of the WTC, Nelli Kim. 

 

Not long ago, Nelli Kim came to Almaty on the invitation of the Kazakhstan Gymnastics Federation. Nelli Kim is a well-known five-time Soviet Olympic champion, European champion, master of sports of the Soviet Union. This time her visit to the capital was due to an international judges’ course.

The talented gymnast’s name competes with the name of excellent gymnasts like Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci and Tourisheva. It will always be related to the history of sport at the world level. Nelli Kim was the first gymnast to receive a mark of ten in floor and vault.

In 2004 she was elected president of the Women’s Technical Committee of the FIG and she became one of the major promoters of the introduction of a new judging system in artistic gymnastics. Being an important specialist in this field, she runs specialized courses for judges in many countries. 

For a long time we had been waiting for her presence among us. Nelli Vladimirovna lives in the US, in Minnesota. This gymnastics legend’s agenda is so tight that it has not only assignments by days, but by minutes. Nelli Kim has little free time. Thus the exclusive interview she kindly agreed to give us is a pride for Kazakh Soviet gymnastics.

- Nelli Kim, we are so happy to welcome you here in Almaty! I remember your visit in 2011, when you participated in the opening of a small gymnastics academy, named after you! Did you have time to visit the academy and to assess the work there? 

- Unfortunately, I didn’t. I don’t have time to visit a few places I would like to go to. I have been busy with the judges’ seminar. I was invited by the Federation to conduct a judges’ seminar at the beginning of a new quad. The FIG has published new judging rules. We are now conducting courses all over. If they complete the courses, the judges obtain new certificates and categories. In this case, the judges can work at the international competitions. 

- Nelli Vladimirovna, what are the most serious problems in the judging work?

- You know, artistic gymnastics is a very subjective sport. In a gymnast’s performance the technical component plays an important part, but it’s not the only one. Still more important is artistry. Currently the judges have to pay more attention in their work to artistry; coaches, at the same time, have to teach and enhance their gymnasts’ artistry. The gymnast is very strong technically, but he performs statically from the artistic standpoint.

- You started to write a PhD on the problems concerning judging in artistic gymnastics … 

- I already completed it successfully. Now my PhD thesis is used as support material for different federations. I am convinced that, like gymnasts, judges are not trained. Judging in the highest categories is hard work requiring a lot of experience.

- We often find statements in the media saying that you will help the most talented gymnasts of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Is it so?

- I am always happy to give advice and the show the necessary direction for further work. So far, I don’t really cooperate with academia. The distance between the US and Kazakhstan is huge and it’s a problem to work together. Yet I am always open to exchanges that can take place via the internet, for example. I am glad that the FIG has sent, upon my request, gymnastics equipment to Kazakhstan. The International Gymnastics Federation sends equipment only if a gym gives warranty of good work. Some countries are given equipment that remains in warehouses.

- Nelli Vladimirovna, in Almaty there are very few gyms for the development of artistic gymnastics. Right now we are in specialist Sports school nº9 for children and young people, the main centre for the preparation of Olympic-level gymnasts…

- Yes, it’s not a consolation. It’s even painful. Private clubs should be opened. They are the real future for our sport.

- Nelli Vladimirovna, did you follow our athletes’ performance at the London Olympics?

- I was responsible for the whole coordination of the Olympics in artistic gymnastics. We have to be convinced that the medals go to those who deserve them. As you know, the best 24 reach the all around final; the best nine reach the event final. 

Of course, I want to know the number of gymnasts participating in the Olympics coming from Kazakhstan and their performance. The results speak for themselves. We can also think that the 58^th place of the Chimkent gymnast Moldir Azimbai is the best in history in this type of competitions. On the other hand Kazakhstan should be proud of the fact that she had the right to participate in the quad’s most important competition. Many gymnasts from other countries didn’t get the licence to compete at the London Olympics. 

Of course, before. many excellent specialists in artistic gymnastics used to work in Kazakhstan. Currently Valeri Liukin, an excellent Soviet gymnast, twice Olympic champion who competed for  Dynamo in Alma-Ata, is living in the United States and coaches world champions. We cannot but hope that, with time, the changes will be for the best. 

- According to you, what do Kazakh gymnasts lack to achieve the results they achieved in the 70s and the 80s?

Currently, Kazakh athletes lack a good level of execution. We cannot say that there are no good coaches in Kazakhstan, on the contrary. But there is no motivation. A number of good specialists are working in the fitness business, where they have better salaries than in the sport schools. 

I am asked the same thing in Belarus. I hear all the time: 'Nelli Vladimirovna, tell us how to raise the level of gymnastics?'. I used to tell them: 'Pay the coaches a decent salary, motivate them, and all will work'. I know a lot of people who would come back to their country if they knew they would be rewarded for their labour …

- In the Soviet Union’s team you were called Kimanelli…

- Vladislav Rostorotski, Liudmila Tourisheva’s coach, mistook my name and my surname. Since that time, everyone has been called me that.

- The well-known Canadian-Portuguese singer Nelly Furtado was named after you. As far as we know, her parents were impressed by your performances at the 1976 Olympics. Have you ever met her?

- You know, it didn’t happen. Our paths didn’t cross. She was in Minnesota for a concert, but I didn’t have time to go, Nelly Furtado didn’t know that I live there (smiles).

- Nelli Vladimirovna, your daughter’s name is also Nelli. Did she follow your steps?

- She preferred to practice sport as a hobby. She practiced athletics and swimming. She first studies economics. Currently, she turned to medicine. 

- When you come back to Kazakhstan, which places do you visit apart from sports institutions? A year ago you were welcomed at the Association of Korean people in Kazakhstan…

- Yes, we spent a nice time there (smiles). I if receive an invitation to go somewhere, I am always happy to meet people, to socialize. I am always happy to meet friends, to talk to coaches and judges. I come here not as a guest, I come home. It’s so nice!