Kim Zmeskal

Zmeskal was born in Houston, Texas, to Clarice and David Zmeskal. She has one younger sister, Melissa and one younger brother, Eric. From a young age, Zmeskal trained with coaching great Béla Károlyi, who had bought Sundance Gymnastics in Zmeskal's Houston neighborhood. This gave Zmeskal the opportunity to observe and interact with her heroine, Mary Lou Retton, who went on to win the Olympic all-around gold medal in 1984 when Zmeskal was eight. She attended Northland Christian School before graduating from Westfield High School like many of Károlyi's other top gymnasts to accommodate her training schedule, graduating in 1994.^[3]

In 1989, at the age of 13, Zmeskal became the U.S. Junior National Champion.^[4] She also took first place in the American Classic, the Swiss Cup Mixed Pairs (with Lance Ringnald), and the Arthur Gander Memorial. Zmeskal went on to become a three-time consecutive U.S. National Champion.^[5] In international events, she began a rivalry with the Soviet Union's Svetlana Boginskaya.^[6]

In 1990, Zmeskal won her first senior title in her debut at the American Cup. Later that year in Denver, she won her first U.S. Senior National All-Around title, more than four-tenths of a point ahead of her friend and training partner Betty Okino. She also won silver on bars (tied with two other gymnasts), balance beam, and floor exercise in the event finals.

Zmeskal was unable to defend her American Cup title, losing to Okino by a margin of just .225 points, but won the event finals for beam and floor. She then defended her U.S. National All-Around title in Cincinnati, where she also won the national title on floor alongside Dominique Dawes and placed second on beam. At the 1991 World Championships in Indianapolis, she helped the team win the silver medal, the first team medal for the American women in World Championship history, beating out the Romanians to finish second behind the Soviet Union. She scored a perfect 10.000 on the vault in the final rotation of the optional rounds, one of only two perfect 10's at the championships, and becoming the first (and only) American woman to ever score a perfect 10 at the World Championships. Zmeskal also became the first American to win the World all-around gold medal, posting scores of 9.962 on the vault, 9.937 on uneven bars, 9.962 on the beam, and 9.987 on the floor to defeat reigning world champion Svetlana Boginskaya with a total score of 39.848.^[7] She also won bronze on the floor and placed seventh on vault in the event finals.

Having recently become world all-around champion, Americans had high hopes for Zmeskal and the U.S. team heading the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, with Zmeskal earning the cover of both Time and Newsweek magazines before the Games. Proving her all-around title wasn't a fluke, Zmeskal added two more World titles at the individual apparatus World Championships in Paris, winning gold on the balance beam and the floor exercise with upgraded routines and increased difficulty. At the U.S. National Championships in Columbus and the Olympic Trials in Baltimore, Zmeskal battled an emerging Shannon Miller, with Miller defeating Zmeskal at the Trials although Zmeskal earned the highest score at both events, in a controversial finish.^[8] Nonetheless, Zmeskal won her third consecutive U.S. National All-Around title, becoming the first female gymnast to ever win three consecutive national all-around championships, won national titles on beam and floor, and placed second on vault and uneven bars.

Despite being picked as the clear-cut favorite for the all-around title and multiple gold medals, Zmeskal's Olympics began poorly as she fell off the balance beam during her compulsory routine on the first night of competition. Although she rebounded with performances on the floor, vault, and bars, Zmeskal was in 32nd place after the compulsories and 5th on the American team, who were second behind the Unified Team after the compulsories.^[9] She further rebounded with scores of 9.900 on uneven bars, 9.912 on the beam, 9.925 on floor, and 9.950 on the vault during the finals of the team competition, moving Zmeskal into 12th place and into the all-around competition by finishing third among the American women. Her combined score of 39.687 for the night was the highest of any competitor. The American women won the bronze medal in the team competition behind the Unified Team and Romania with a total score of 394.704 points, their first ever team medal in a non-boycotted Olympic Games. She also qualified to the event finals on vault and floor exercise.

Although she earned enough points to compete in the all-around competition, Zmeskal faltered during her first event of the competition, floor exercise, stepping out of bounds on her last tumbling pass. She faltered again in the final rotation with a shaky beam routine and finished 10th in the all-around final. Zmeskal finished off the podium in event finals as well, placing 8th on the vault after sitting down her second vault, and 6th in the floor final (although many commentators and coaches alike felt that she should have at least tied for the bronze medal). It was later revealed that Zmeskal was suffering from a tibial stress fracture before and during the Olympics.

“I've learned that you don't have to win first place to win” is how Zmeskal reflected upon her Olympic experience, recognizing her performance during the Team Final (in which no individual medals were awarded) as her greatest athletic achievement- overcoming a sizeable score deficit due to a compulsory beam fall as well as an injured tibia to qualify to the 1992 Olympic All Around final. She also defined standing alongside her teammates on the medal stand to receive their Olympic bronze medals as contributing to that “win”.

 

Any dreams for a comeback to compete in the 1996 Olympic Games were dashed after a slow recovery due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee suffered during a floor exercise exhibition in Worcester, MA.

In 1998, Zmeskal returned to competition with a decent showing at the U.S. National Championships in Indianapolis, finishing 11th all around. By 1999, she was even considered a possibility for the 2000 Olympics team after representing the U.S. internationally in her final competition in Shanghai, China in the fall of 1998. However, a ruptured right achilles tendon in July 1999, followed by a torn calf muscle in the same leg while taking off for a double tuck, ended her career in January 2000.

Zmeskal was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in May 2012.^[10]

Zmeskal married Chris Burdette on October 23, 1999.^[11] The marriage produced three children.^[12] Per Chris Burdette's Linkedin page, in June 2019, the couple split with Kim taking full ownership of Texas Dreams in March 2022.

As the head coach of Texas Dream, Zmeskal has been criticized for her strict coaching style and verbal abuse towards her gymnasts. Former gymnast Kennedy Baker wrote about her experiences in an open letter,

My senior year, I knew my [Achilles] was going to tear, ... I stated that I felt like it was going to tear from September until the season started in January. Requesting that I do less numbers, the trainer would lie, and said that I 'just had to deal with it' and I could brush through the pain. Despite my history with [Achilles] problems, my concerns were brushed aside and instead of cutting me back, she encouraged me to keep going, and to my un surprise, my Achilles tore that season.^[13]

Another gymnast who came forward was Ashton Kim, who also wrote a statement describing the hard training regime she was put under Zmeskal's tutelage and being forced to train with injuries.^[14] Kim stated that she got an apology from Zmeskal.^[15]

Zmeskal was recognized for her middle tumbling pass on floor which consisted of a round-off, three consecutive whip-backs, back-handspring, into a double-back in the tucked position (sometimes with four whips into double-back). Another trademark was the way she would flare her arms out during full-twisting elements, most notably on her full-twisting Yurchenko vault.

Another signature move was the reverse planche with one bent leg, which was her opening move on the balance beam, now seen in the Texas Dreams Gymnastics logo as well as gymnastics clip art.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kim Zmeskal.

• Kim Zmeskal at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Kim Zmeskal at the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame  
• Kim Zmeskal at USA Gymnastics
• Kim Zmeskal at Gymn Forum
• Kim Zmeskal at Olympics.com  
• Kim Zmeskal at Olympedia (archive)  
• Where Are They Now?: Kim Zmeskal Photos & Info at the Wayback Machine (archived January 23, 2009)
• The Texas Prime gymnastics meet she organises at the Wayback Machine (archived December 30, 2013)
• Video Interviews of Kim Zmeskal at Gymnastike.org