Kim Zmeskal, American gymnast and coach
Kimberly Lynn Zmeskal Burdette (née Zmeskal on February 6, 1976) is an American retired artistic gymnast turned gymnastics coach and the 1991 World All-Around champion. A member of the silver medal-winning U.S. team from the 1991 World Championships (the first team medal ever won by the U.S. women at a world championships), she was the first American woman to ever win the all-around title at the World Championships, as well as the first to win a world championship medal of any color in the all-around. A three-time United States national all-around champion (1990–92), Zmeskal is also the 1992 world champion on both balance beam and floor exercise, and was a member of the bronze medal-winning U.S. team at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, the first U.S. team medal won at a fully attended Olympic Games.
Known for her explosive power and tumbling on vault and floor, Zmeskal is regarded as one of the greatest female gymnasts of all time and arguably the best in the world during the early 1990s. Her all-around win also sparked the beginning of a dynasty of American dominance in women's gymnastics (since 1992, six American women have won world all-around titles, and 12 of the last 19 all-around world championship titles (including 10 of the last 12) were won by an American) and the reemergence of power and athleticism in the sport. She currently coaches gymnastics and co-owns Texas Dreams Gymnastics in Coppell, Texas, with her husband Chris Burdette.
1976Feb, 6
Kim Zmeskal
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Events on 1976
- 5Jan
Democratic Kampuchea
The Khmer Rouge proclaim the Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea. - 13Apr
Thomas Jefferson
The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration. - 8May
Six Flags Magic Mountain
The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain. - 11Oct
Gerald R. Ford
George Washington's appointment, posthumously, to the grade of General of the Armies by congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 is approved by President Gerald R. Ford. - 13Oct
Ebola
The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle is obtained by Dr. F. A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, who was then working at the C.D.C.