Nellie Kim is helping to promote the European Games as one of its start ambassadors. She talked to Minsk News about her roles at the Games and her thoughts on Belorussian gymnastics.
Q: Nellie, if we’re being honest, the ambassador title is just one of your countless titles or something more?
A: Of course, it’s a very important and significant title. Even because some time ago FIG made me responsible for the Ambassador Commission. In my career, it’s the first time I got a title like that and it’s especially nice that it happened in Minsk, before the European Games.
Q: How do you see your mission?
A: To promote the information about our beautiful spot, to help developing various federation, to inform the world of our achievements and important events, to invite sponsors so that they could help further development of gymnastics, to attract the attention of heads of states to the sport, and so on.
Q: That is, use your fame, connections, and influence to make gymnastics more popular, right?
A: Absolutely. By the way, the International Olympic Committee considers gymnastics to be in the top 3 of the sports, after athletics and swimming. It’s definitely one of the most spectacular sports that also has a lot of medals to be won.
Q: The qualification to the European Games was conducted over two last continental championships. Does it mean we can expect a very strong competition?
A: I suppose so. European Games are far from an ordinary competition, so I hope that the countries, or rather the national Olympic committees, that got non-nominative spots will send their strongest gymnasts. For example, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, and France, whose representatives set the tone at the recent European Championships in Poland.
Q: The Belorussian athletes, unfortunately, were left out of medals there…
A: However, they left a good impression. Anastasia Aliastratava became fourth on bars, she needed only 0.017 more to be in third place. Yahor Sharamkou was third on vault but, after his competitor submitted an inquiry, the score was changed and he was moved to the fourth place. I think these athletes and Andrey Likhovitsky, who’s very experienced, will be able to fight for medals at the European Games. I hope that until the competition, they’ll polish their routines a bit more and get into the optimal shape.
Q: With your dedication, I think, you never had any issues with getting in shape. At the Montreal Olympics, in addition to three gold medals, you also won silver in the all-around. Were you upset with the second place, since winning was very much possible? Or Nadia Comaneci had both luck and judges on her side that day?
A: Yes, it was pure politics. It was the middle of the Cold War, the Soviet Union had been dominating gymnastics and here Nadia Comaneci appears, from not quite socialistic Romania… And, of course, I also made a serious mistake on beam in the compulsories. And, I guess, I burned out a bit during the preparation. In any case, a win is a win, and whatever happened happened.
Q: How did your relatively early marriage and the move from Shymkent to Minsk in 1977 affect your further career?
A: I had all the necessary conditions. The coach, Nikolai Miligulo, really helped me to prepare well for the Moscow Olympics and to win two golds there. Without him, perhaps, I would’ve retired earlier. I don’t know how my life would have turned out if I didn’t move to Minsk, but the move was good for me.
Q: Do you think that a lot of credit for your achievements and career should go to your parents and coaches or the main role was played by your own talent, ambitions, and knowledge of English?
A: I think that in addition to everything you’ve listed, there was also luck involved. A long time ago a former weightlifting coach Vladimir Baidin got obsessed with gymnastics and noticed me. My parents supported me in difficult situations. The FIG president Bruno Grandi supported me as a candidate for the technical committee president because he’d been observing my work in Italy over three years and appreciated my Olympic titles. And I’m proud that at that job, I didn’t allow a single screw-up during the World Championships or Olympic Games. Of course, many people are a part of my success. When I got married and moved to Minsk, Petr Masherov [head of the Belorussian republic during that time] kept inquiring about me: “How’s our Nellichka doing? Does she like it here? Does she have any problems?” When I heard that the head of the republic was killed in a car accident, I was on a train, and I burst into tears.
Q: Did gymnastics moved far ahead since the time you had retired?
A: Yes. The routines became noticeably harder, especially on bars and vault. The apparatuses improved, the floor became softer, the vaulting table replaced the old horse, the landing mats became a bit better and also softer, so the gymnasts can risk trying new elements.
Q: Do you travel a lot?
A: You could say that I live on the planes and at the airports. Judge for yourself – just in April, I visited Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Poland, USA, Belarus, and Russia, so, seven countries altogether. Of course, I visit Minnesota, too, but it seems that I’ll spend most of this year in Minsk.
Q: At the European Games, will you be the highest-ranked representative of the International Gymnastics Federation? Or, perhaps, the president Morinari Watanabe will want to visit us, too?
A: Not sure. He was invited but, unfortunately, the calendar was made in a way that we have a lot of events at the same time. On the same dates, Hungary will host the Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. So, perhaps, Watanabe will come to the Opening Ceremony, I know for sure that I’ll be at the Games and if he will ask me to represent FIG, I’ll gladly do it. And as a vice-head of the Belorussian Gymnastics Association, I’ll work for the good of our country’s sport.
Q: Some time ago, FIG assigned you to be in charge of parkour…
A: Yes, the urban gymnastics which you can easily imagine if you think of action movies where characters run from the police. Parkour is a completely free style, hooded clothes… The FIG president assigned it to me, I guess, with the thought that I would actively promote this branch. But then he decided to take care of it himself and, thank god, let him continue. And I’ll gladly keep doing what I like. For example, I consider Team Gym – team gymnastics – quite promising. We also have other sports that need help, such as acrobatics and aerobics. And parkour got the green light in the federation. It’s attractive for young people and, it seems, the IOC is encouraging their interest.
Photo: European Games
Support Gymnovosti on Patreon from only $1 a month and help us bring to you even more awesome gymnastics coverage!
Buy cool gymnastics-themed t-shirts, hoodies, pillows, phone cases, and more at our store on Teepublic!
