GYMNASTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS : North Korean Scores 10 to Win Gold Medal

Kim Gwang Suk of North Korea scored a 10 to win the gold medal in the uneven bars and Shannon Miller of the United States tied with Tatiana Gutsu of the Soviet Union to win the silver in the individual apparatus finals at the World Gymnastics Championships Saturday night.

The 17-year-old Kim, who is 4 feet 4 and weighs 63 pounds, performed a routine with skills of the highest difficulty to win North Korea’s first medal at this meet. For her effort, she also earned two standing ovations from a crowd of 15,792 at the Hoosier Dome.

Miller scored a 9.950 to tie Gutsu. No bronze was awarded.

Only the top eight finishers in each event from team competition--with a maximum of two per country--qualified for the apparatus finals. Miller was the only American to qualify in all four women’s events, two of which were held Saturday. Miller finished sixth in the vault and all-around champion Kim Zmeskal was seventh. Miller and Zmeskal will compete today in the floor exercise and Miller and Betty Okino will compete on the beam.

Scott Keswick of UCLA was the only American man to qualify. He tied for sixth in the rings and will compete today on the horizontal bar.

In the women’s vault, Romania’s Lavinia Milosovici won the gold with an average of 9.949 for two vaults. The Soviet Union’s Oksana Tchusovitina and Hungary’s Henrietta Onodi tied for the silver at 9.918. Miller was successful on her first attempt but missed on her second to finish at 9.812. Zmeskal, who scored a 10 on the vault in the team competition, was short on both vault landings and finished with a 9.7.

Soviet gymnasts won gold medals in all three men’s finals held Saturday. In the rings, all-around champion Grigori Misutin of the Soviet Union won the gold (9.875), Andreas Wecker of Germany, the silver (9.862) and Yuri Chechi of Italy, the bronze (9.837). Keswick’s average was 9.775.

Valeri Belenki won the pommel horse with an average of 9.812, followed by China’s Guo Linyao (9.887) and Li Jing (9.875). In the floor exercise, Igor Korobchinski scored a 9.875 to win the gold, followed by teammate Vitaly Scherbo (9.8) and Japan’s Daisuke Nishikawa (9.787). Korobchinski, the 1989 all-around champion, was also the defending champion on the floor exercise.

Today’s apparatus finals will conclude the meet.