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Favorite Routines: Nellie Kim Balance Beam

Nellie Kim is seen quite frequently these days on the floor of international gymnastics meets.

She's not a competitor, she's the president of the women's technical committee for the FIG. Ms. Kim's job duties involve the overseeing of  the creation of new rules. she had a hand in the changing of the 10.0 system to the current difficulty plus execution system that has been in place for the past six years.
Source: FIG

Before she was gracing her presence in the FIG, she was a fierce competitor on the podium.
She took the silver medal behind Nadia Comaneci in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal in the all-around and took home a gold for vault and floor exercise. Ms. Kim has a list of World, European and Olympic medals a mile long. What's also awesome about her gymnastics career is she was an underdog. Larisa Latynina allegedly said that she had "no future" in gymnastics. Oh the irony. You can check out her resume on the FIG's official website and you can see her medal list on Wikipedia.

This installment of Favorite Routines is featuring Ms. Kim on the balance beam during the team final (optionals). She has some really awesome skills. She does a standing back tuck on the beam and she has some unique handstand and dance elements. Just remember, in 1976, daring acro skills like a standing back tuck weren't performed on the beam in 1976, but today, they're as ubiquitous as an Amanar on vault.

Watch this routine and be in awe of Nellie Kim's Olympic performance.

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