AGU Office, Doha (Qatar): One of the legendary gymnasts, Nellie Vladimirovna Kim turned 60 on July 29.

Born in Shurab, Tajikhstan, in 1957, she inherited her eyes from her father, a Korean descendant.

Due to her father’s work at a slate factory, she moved to Shymkent, Kazakhstan, soon after her birth, where she discovered gymnastics at the age of 9.

She became the second woman in Olympic history to earn a perfect 10 score after Nadia Comaneci and rivalled the Romanian and Ludmilla Tourischeva in
the 70s.

At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, which will be hosting this year’s FIG World Championships, Kim won three gold in team, vault and floor and silver medal in all-around

“I enjoyed at Montreal. That was my greatest time. Those two individual medals are my favorites because I got perfect 10s,” she said in an interview recently.

Four years later in Moscow Games, she claimed two gold medals in team and floor exercises.

But Kim’s major contribution to the sport was when he helped design the alteration in the Code of Points as the President of the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee.

Her efforts ended the use of the Perfect 10 in 2006 when she introduced uncapped scoring for gymnasts after judging controversies tarnished the sport at the 2004 Athens Games.

She, along with former FIG President Bruno Grandi, is believed to have ended the scandal after bringing a radical change of the old Code while clean execution and artistry are now considered as the main priorities.