Kui went on to win two bronze medals at the 1997 World Championships, with her team and on the balance beam. The balance beam result was controversial: Kui performed the most difficult routine of all the competitors in the final—including a full-twisting back layout, as well as three split leaps to a back handspring and two layout step-outs—but finished .012 behind Romania's Gina Gogean. She lost the silver medal to Svetlana Khorkina of Russia in a tie-breaker. The results prompted the president of the International Federation of Gymnastics to publicly chastise the judges.