Kimberly Lynn Zmeskal Burdette is an American retired artistic gymnast turned gymnastics coach and the 1991 world all-around champion. She is 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 consecutive national champion, Zmeskal is also a former world champion on both beam and floor, and 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. She currently coaches gymnastics and co-owns Texas Dreams Gymnastics in Coppell, Texas, with her husband Chris Burdette.
Early life and training
Zmeskal was born in Houston, Texas to Clarice and David Zmeskal. She has one younger sister, Melissa. From a young age, Zmeskal trained with coaching great Béla Károlyi, who had bought a run-down gym 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. In 1989, at the age of 13, Zmeskal became the U.S. Junior National Champion. She also took first place in the American Classic, the Swiss Cup Mixed Pairs, and the Arthur Gander Memorial. Zmeskal went on to become a three-time consecutive U.S. National Champion. In international events, she began a rivalry with the Soviet Union's Svetlana Boginskaya. Zmeskal graduated from Westfield High School in 1994. 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, and became the first American woman to score a perfect 10 at the World Championships on her optional vault. Zmeskal also became the first American to achieve the World all-around gold medal, defeating reigning champion Svetlana Boginskaya. She also won bronze on the floor in the event finals.
Having recently become world 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. Zmeskal added two more World titles at the individual apparatus World Championships in Paris, winning gold on the beam and the floor. In the U.S. National Championships and Olympic Trials, Zmeskal battled an emerging Shannon Miller, with Miller defeating Zmeskal at the Trials. Zmeskal fell off the balance beam during her compulsory routine on the first night of competition. Although she would rebound 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. She would further rebound 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, their first ever team medal in a non-boycotted Olympic Games. Although earning enough points to compete in the all-around competition, Zmeskal would again falter during her first event, the floor exercise, stepping out of bounds on her final tumbling pass. She finished 10th in the all-around final, and later finished 8th in the vault final and 6th in the floor final. It would later be revealed that Zmeskal was suffering from a stress fracture in her ankle before the Olympics began.
Comeback and retirement
Any dreams for a comeback to compete in the 1996 Olympic Games would be dashed due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee suffered during a floor exercise. In 1998, Zmeskal returned to competition with a decent showing at the U.S. National Championships in Indianapolis. By 1999, she was even considered a possibility for the 2000 Olympics team and represented the U.S. internationally. However, a torn achilles tendon on a double tuck on floor ended her career that year. That same year, on October 23, she married coach Chris Burdette, whom she had met during a clinic. They wed at Karolyi's Ranch. Zmeskal now spends time with her husband, speaking and coaching, and opened a coaching program in Coppell, Texas entitled Texas Dreams Gymnastics. She has coached multiple US National Team athletes. The Burdettes had their first child, son Robert Ryder, in May 2005. Their second child, son Koda Christopher, was born July 17, 2006. Zmeskal announced in July 2009 via Twitter that she and her husband were expecting their third child, a girl. Riven was born on February 10, 2010 weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces. Zmeskal was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in May 2012. She is a Catholic.
Gymnastic trademarks
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. 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.
