Kim Gwang-suk is a North Korean female gymnast who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics.
18 Facts About Kim Gwang-suk
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Kim Gwang-suk is known for both her exemplary uneven bars work and for her involvement in one of the most prominent age falsification scandals in gymnastics.
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Kim Gwang-suk was the 1991 World Champion on the uneven bars, winning the event with a perfect 10.0 score and a routine that included an original release move, the Counter-Kim.
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Kim Gwang-suk was trained by coach Kim Gwang-suk Chun-phil and was appearing on the international competitive circuit as early as 1987, when she performed at the Junior Friendship Tournament, winning a bronze medal on the uneven bars.
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Kim Gwang-suk continued on to other international meets at both the junior and senior levels, including the 1988 Cottbus Cup, part of the World Cup circuit, where she placed a modest 17th in the all-around, and that year's Druzhba meet, where she placed third on bars and won an additional bronze with the North Korean team.
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Kim Gwang-suk's set would still be considered exceptionally difficult by modern standards, with intricate combinations of pirouettes and releases.
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Kim Gwang-suk performed her own original release move, a straddled front flip facing outward from the high bar.
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In 1990 Kim Gwang-suk won a silver medal on bars and finished 4th on beam at the Asian Games in Beijing.
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Kim Gwang-suk's efforts were finally rewarded at the 1991 World Championships, where she earned the uneven bars gold medal in event finals with a perfect 10.0 score.
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Kim Gwang-suk was expected to challenge for bars gold at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 a step on her dismount kept her in fourth place, just out of the medals.
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Kim Gwang-suk's score was initially given at 9.912, which kept her in second place behind China's Luo Li.
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North Korean team officials filed a protest and Kim Gwang-suk's score was adjusted to 9.925, giving Kim Gwang-suk a tie for the gold with Luo.
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At the 1991 Worlds, television commentators made several remarks about Kim Gwang-suk's supposed age of 15.
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The forgeries had been inconsistent at best, as Kim Gwang-suk's age was given as 15 for three consecutive years, but at the Barcelona Olympics in July 1992, her age jumped to 17.
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Kim Gwang-suk was permitted to keep the medals she had won in international events, including her 1991 World Championships gold, as she was determined to have no involvement or knowledge in the fraud.
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Some people believe Kim Gwang-suk was born in 1976, but the more accepted consensus is that her birth year was actually 1978 or even 1979.
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The rationale behind this estimate is that the North Korean Federation was still supplying inconsistent birth dates for Kim Gwang-suk in 1991 and 1992: if she had been born in 1976 or 1977, this would not have been necessary, as she would have been properly age-eligible for these events.
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Kim Gwang-suk has a release move, commonly referred to as the counter Kim Gwang-suk, named after her in the Code of Points.