It was eventually discovered that North Korean officials had falsified Kim's birth year at least three occasions, supplying different information at different competitions. The forgeries had been inconsistent at best, as Kim's age was given as 15 for three consecutive years, but at the Barcelona Olympics in July 1992, her age jumped to 17. By at least one estimate, she was no older than 11 or 12 when she competed at the 1989 World Championships, and at the team portion of the 1992 Olympics, Béla Károlyi suggested she may have been as young as 10 at the time: he remarked, "Her milk teeth are falling out, which is a good indication she's not even 11." Kim's coaches claimed that she had lost her teeth in a training mishap several years before the Olympics, and this story was corroborated by photographs from past events, witnesses and video footage of Kim without teeth at the 1991 Worlds. However, this did nothing to explain the other mounting inconsistencies surrounding Kim's age.