Last week our gymnast of the week came from Russia and this week we visit China to find Kui Yuan Yuan for gymnast of the week. Kui competed in two Olympic games, two World Championships, the 1998 World Cup, as well as the 1998 Asian Games.

Most known for her beam work, Kui actually never won the gold medal on balance beam. She shocked the world when she won the gold medal on floor at the 1996 World Championships, making her the first Chinese woman to ever win first place on floor. A devastating fall in the preliminaries kept her from the event finals on balance beam at Worlds. She went on to compete at the 1996 Olympic games and helped China to a 4th place finish. At the 1996 Olympics, Kui posted a 9.875 on balance beam during the team competition, which was the highest score on beam at the Olympic games.

After the 1996 Olympics, Kui competed at the 1997 World’s Championships where she won the bronze on balance beam and in the team competition. The 1997 World’s balance beam competition and results turned out to be one of gymnastics’ most disputed events in history of the sport. After competiting a routine, which showed a high level of difficulty and consisted of a back handspring, back handspring, full twisting layout, three connected split leaps to a back handspring, two layout step-outs, and a double back tuck dismount, Kui placed only third behind Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina, and Romania’s Gina Gorgean. The results prompted the president of the Federation of International Gymnastics to publicly chastise the judges and tell them they were wrong and are still highly debatable today.

In 1997, Kui became the National Games Champion and following her success; in 1998 she won the gold medal on vault at the Asian Games and two medals at the World Cup Final. Kui was injured in 1999 and did not compete but was able to return in 2000 in times for the Sydney Olympics in hopes of winning her well-deserved gold medal on beam. Unfortunately, Kui injured herself on vault during preliminaries and was unable to compete in the team finals.
Kui retired from gymnastics after the 2000 Olympics and attended University of International Business and Economics to study French but left after a few semesters. In 2006 she married her boyfriend and gave birth to a daughter a year later.

Years after the balance beam dispute, Kui is still recognized as one of the most masterful gymnasts on beam and her 1997 World’s beam routine is still one of the most difficult and perfectly executed.

Here is the beam routine that Kui performed at the 1997 Worlds that is still so highly disputed.