German gymnast Kim Bui has introduced her retirement after a protracted profession in girls’s gymnastics. However earlier than she hangs up her grips for the ultimate time, she will likely be competing one final time on the 2022 European Championships that are being held in Germany. It’s utterly comprehensible {that a} gymnast would wish to compete for the ultimate time in entrance of pleasant followers. The tactic of a gymnast deciding on a meet on house soil as the ultimate competitors of her profession is way from unusual.
However what makes Kim Bui’s case important is that she won’t solely be competing in entrance of house crowds, she will likely be returning to the very environment the place Bui produced the best win of her profession. That competitors in query was the 2011 European Championships which was additionally hosted by Germany. On the 2011 European Championships Kim Bui received the one medal of her profession on the Olympics, World Championships, and Continental Championships degree.
The 2011 European Championships was not simply the spotlight of Bui’s profession, however one among Germany’s strongest end in girls’s creative gymnastics (WAG) so far. It’s an honor in itself for Kim Bui to complete her profession in entrance of a house crowd, however on the 2022 European Championships she can have the extra honor of finalizing her profession whereas having the ability to relive her nice accomplishment from 11 years prior.
The importance of the 2011 European Championships to German WAG historical past begins with the three legends who represented Germany at this occasion.
Kim Bui
Elisabeth Seitz
Oksana Chusovitina
Kim Bui competed for Germany from 2005-present and competed in a German lineup in Group-1 competitors (World Championships or Olympics) 11 whole instances.
Elisabeth Seitz competed for Germany from 2009-present and competed in a German lineup in Group-1 competitors 12 whole instances.
Oksana Chusovitina has competed from 1991-present, however from 2006-2012 to represented Germany and appeared in a Group-1 competitors underneath the German flag on 6 whole events.
Bui, Seitz, and Chusovitina are three of the best examples of longevity in WAG historical past and coincidentally, all of them occurred to belong to the identical nationwide program. The Bui, Seitz, Chusovitina trio symbolize three of essentially the most beneficial WAGs Germany has ever had as a result of their presence in so many group lineups. They mixed for 29 whole appearances for the German program in Group-1 competitors.
However on the 2011 European Championships which have been held in Berlin, this trio of German gymnasts introduced Germany to new heights. Seitz received a silver medal within the All-Round, Chusovitina received a silver on vault, whereas Bui received a bronze medal on the uneven bars. Earlier than then, neither Germany nor its West German predecessors had received greater than a single medal at a European Championships.
Now Germany had three gymnasts stroll away with a medal in only a single European Championships.
However the success didn’t finish there. Later within the 12 months Bui, Seitz, and Chusovitina all returned to the German lineup for the 2011 World Championships the place they led the nation to a sixth place end within the group standings. Apart from the 1984 boycott, the 2011 World Championships stays the very best consequence Germany has achieved whereas competing as both “West Germany” or “Germany” since 1952 when this system completed fifth.
Be aware: Germany participated on the Olympics in 1956-1964 as a “Unified Group” however in WAG solely East German groups have been despatched as a result of they have been the stronger program.
Kim Bui’s longevity is famous. She is a 3x Olympian whereas having the excellence of collaborating in 4 totally different Olympic quads. Kim Bui made her senior debut in 2005 and was a part of an period answerable for elevating the profile of Germany from a low rating program that ceaselessly missed the Olympics, right into a notable participant that would qualify to Group Finals in any given 12 months.
Within the Nineteen Seventies and for many of the Eighties, West Germany had the strongest WAG program in Western Europe whereas East Germany was one of many high WAG powers on this planet. However beginning in 1987 each packages started to free fall. When Germany reunified in 1990, its two WAG packages weren’t ready to put the inspiration for a brand new highly effective program.
Within the Nineties Germany would undergo important regression, whereas their Western European rivals have been demonstrating great enchancment. Even whereas German Olympic sports activities as a complete had remained sturdy within the speedy aftermath of the Chilly Struggle, in WAG the state of affairs was totally different.
It was Kim Bui and her technology who pioneered that change right into a medal successful program. In 2005 Kim Bui made her first look for Germany on the World Championships. It was proper round this time that German gymnasts started qualifying to Occasion Finals, and in some case win medals. In 2008 and 2016 German WAG would achieve successful medals on the Olympics. The period from 2005-present is the place Germany has skilled all of its success underneath the German tri-color. Coincidently, that is successfully the Kim Bui period as nicely as a result of it was marked by her continuous presence.
Sadly, Kim Bui wouldn’t rise to grow to be a extremely ranked gymnast. In Bui’s period there have been six different German gymnasts who efficiently certified to Occasion Finals on the Group-1 degree, however not Bui herself. However Bui was nonetheless one among Germany’s leaders and he or she proved it within the remaining years of her profession.
When #GymnastAlliance overtook the game as gymnasts started talking up about abusive coaching environments, it was Kim Bui who spoke on the Bundestag, the German equal of U.S. Congress or British parliament to boost consciousness on the subject.
On the 2021 Olympics Kim and her teammates determined to put on unitards versus the standard leotard. Their purpose was to normalize the idea in order that different gymnasts wouldn’t really feel discouraged from carrying them. All year long German gymnasts rotated between various kinds of leotards and unitards. Proving they have been carrying leotards not as a result of it was their most well-liked alternative, however as a result of they needed to exhibit that gymnasts all over the place had this alternative.
The German gymnasts not solely succeeded on this purpose, however the unitard turned one of the crucial talked about tales of the Olympics. It instantly led to the IOC strengthening its “portrayal pointers” that each one tv broadcasters should abide by. These pointers emphasize avoiding digital camera angles that compromise the athletes resembling photographs involving their butt or crotch space.
Kim Bui might not have been the very best German gymnast of her period, however she may at all times be relied on to do the best factor, be a pacesetter, and he or she was a solider contributor to the group rating for 17 years. In that point she witnessed Germany rise from a low rating program, to at least one that wins Olympic medals and has excessive hopes for its future.
That future is Helen Kevric, the 14 12 months outdated German gymnast who will likely be competing alongside Kim Bui within the junior division on the European Championships. Helen is just two weeks faraway from her success on the European Youth Olympic Competition the place she received medals on 6 of seven occasions. The seventh occasion (WAG usually has solely six) being a mixed-gender group occasion. On the 2022 European Championships she has already received the Junior All-Round title, a primary in German WAG historical past.
The presence of Kevric is an emblem of all that Germany has gained prior to now twenty years and what it is going to proceed to achieve in future competitions. It would additionally function a possibility for Kim Bui to move the torch to the subsequent technology. However most of all it’s onerous to disregard the connection between the 2011 European Championships and the 2022 European Championships that have been each held on German soil.
It’s a rarity for a gymnast to write down the ending to her athletic profession underneath such good circumstances. After 17 years Kim Bui will compete in a single final main competitors, in entrance of pleasant crowds, along with her teammate from all these years in the past (Elisabeth Seitz) competing alongside her, along with her inheritor obvious (Helen Kevric) additionally current, and doing so whereas invoking the reminiscence of the 2011 European Championships which was the spotlight of her profession.
For a gymnast who gave a lot to girls’s gymnastics, it’s the ending Kim Bui deserves.
