Asian Descent > Korea Archives - Page 2 of 2

Nellie Kim

Nellie Vladimirovna Kim was a Soviet gymnast who won three gold medals and a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics. She was the second woman in Olympic history to earn a perfect 10 score (after Nadia Comăneci, also at the 1876 Olympics), and the first woman to score it on the vault and on the floor exercise. Kim worked for many years as a coach, training several national teams, and judged many major international competitions. Serving as President of the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee, she coordinates the introduction of new rules in women’s gymnastics. Her athletic performances are remembered for “her strong feminine, temperamental and charismatic appeal”.

Yu Gwansun

An important figure in organising the March 1st Movement against the Japanese colonial rule in Korea, Yu Gwansun became a symbol of her country’s fight for independence through peaceful protest. Often called “Korea’s Joan of Arc”, Yu was only 17 when she was arrested by Japanese police during an independence demonstration in 1919. Both of her parents were killed at the demonstration.
Sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, she continued to fight for Korean independence in jail, which led to beatings and other forms of torture at the hands of Japanese officers. A year later, she died in prison at age 18, reportedly as the result of the torture. She was posthumously awarded the Order of Independence Merit, which is awarded for “outstanding meritorious services in the interest of founding or laying a foundation for the Republic of Korea” in 1962.