Biography of Olga Korbut: a legend of artistic gymnastics. Forgotten miracle with pigtails

Olga Valentinovna KORBUT was born on May 16, 1955 in Grodno. Soviet athlete (gymnastics), Honored Master of Sports. Four-time Olympic champion. Three-time world champion. Absolute champion of the USSR in 1975.

Each Olympics has its own heroes. Sports fortune chooses them from among the winners. The Hero of the Olympics is a very special, almost legendary personality. Firstly, because at each Olympics there are no more than three or four such heroes, and secondly, because most often their appearance is unexpected: just recently, on the eve of the starts, one name was suggested, and suddenly someone, before almost unmentioned, became the object of universal sympathy and admiration. It is almost impossible to predict the appearance of a hero or heroine; no knowledge of sports will help here. And this is understandable: in addition to purely athletic phenomenality, the hero is also required to have such valuable human qualities as charm and bright personality. Can you guess who will meet all the requirements! But it is precisely this surprise that is one of the secrets of the attractiveness of big-time sports.

Who, for example, could have guessed that one of the most beloved heroines of the Munich Olympics would be determined in the very first days of the Games, in the midst of gymnastics competitions, and it would not be the world champion Lyudmila Turishcheva, not the athlete from the GDR Karin Janz, not the American Katie Rigby, already won the “Most Charming Participant” prize, and tiny, funny and spontaneous Olya Korbut! True, back in Moscow, when discussing who should represent the national team, our coaches said: “Olya will do her somersault and conquer everyone right away!” However, these were still more dreams than strict certainty. Although Olya Korbut had already performed successfully in international competitions, no one could determine the degree of effect of her Olympic debut.

Olga Valentinovna Korbut was born on May 16, 1955 in Grodno. Six of them lived in a room of twenty square meters without any amenities: dad was an engineer, mom was a cook and four sisters. Olya was the youngest and most beloved. Her character was tempered in courtyard battles. Then she went to school and studied without grades until the fourth grade. And in the second grade, the school physical teacher Yaroslav Ivanovich Korol took her to the school gymnastics section. However, when there was a selection process for the local youth sports school, she was not accepted at first: she was too plump!

But for some reason the “fat girl” attracted the attention of Olympic champion Elena Volchetskaya. A year later, Olya began training with the country's honored coach Ronald Ivanovich Knysh.

She came to our school in 1965,” recalled Renald Ivanovich. “We selected her among other fifty girls, and Elena Volchetskaya - she was already the national champion at that time - began working with her. About six months have passed. I looked closely at the newcomers: who should I now prepare to become champions? And the choice fell on Olya. She picked up new elements very easily! I soon realized that this girl could do the impossible...

The point was not only that Olya’s low weight and lightness allowed her to throw herself into the air so that sometimes it seemed as if she, having overcome gravity, was “hovering” in space like a feather. And excellent coordination of movements helped to land accurately after the flight. After all, aren’t there a lot of girls and boys around who are short, puny and agile? And many of them do gymnastics, but the second Olga Korbut does not... This means that the secret is not only in natural abilities. The secret is also in character. To do something that no one has ever tried to do before requires special courage. And not just courage in the sense that “I’m not afraid to fall.”

Who knows - Korbut would have grown up if she had not ended up with Knysh as a good gymnast. They needed each other: Knysh is a calm, reasonable-looking, sedate person, but in reality he is nervous, active, rushing about in constant search, discarding hundreds of options, each of which would be a godsend for another; and Korbut is spontaneity itself, nakedness of the soul, a proud and easily wounded creature.

The easiest way in sports is to copy the champions and try to reach their level of skill. The most difficult thing is to look for your path, ahead of your time, today to see what no one else sees.

Knysh somehow came across a book about Goya and read a phrase there that immediately sparked an idea. The great artist, explaining the origins of creativity, said: “Imagination, devoid of reason, produces monsters; united with him, she is the mother of art and the source of its miracles.” Knysh fantasized.

He composed the elements. Olga cried with resentment when she didn’t succeed in what she had planned, and immediately began to repeat it hundreds and thousands of times, until every link, every element became an inseparable part of the whole. And when it was possible to calm down, Knysh rejected everything outright and gloomily paced the gym, and Olya, already accustomed to such unexpected turns, tried to keep up with the coach’s thoughts and learned to understand at a glance, as if their hearts were tuned to the same wavelength.

They don't like dreamers. Knysh got it hard, but he was not a timid person and would have easily endured the injustice of the reproaches if not for Olya. How often she baffled him with her stubbornness and changeable moods, immediately breaking what had been built through joint efforts. Olga did not hide this: “You know, I have an intolerable character. Either I want to cry to the point of tears exactly what I cannot do, or I simply cannot overcome my reluctance to complete some trivial task from Knysh. And I understand that Ronald Ivanovich is right, but I can’t help myself, even cry...”

Shortly after the Mexico City Olympics, a fourteen-year-old girl successfully competed in the Olympic Hopes youth competition, demonstrating her famous somersault on a balance beam.

True, four years ago Olya didn’t have to do this flip over and over again: she would either do it confidently, or it wouldn’t work... “It’s not worth it,” the skeptics shook their heads, “she’ll never master it so that you can let her out without fear.” to the international arena. Yes, this is impossible! But Renald Ivanovich persisted. Silent, withdrawn, he probably already believed then: if it worked once, it means it will work again, and again; if caught, all that remains is to secure it, hold it. A find not to be missed!

For a long time, all the talk about Korbut revolved around this unique somersault. As if there was nothing else interesting in her arsenal!

No, it was! The somersault simply caught the eye of everyone, even non-specialists. Meanwhile, at the same time as the somersault, Olya showed new elements on the uneven bars and performed the usual jump - “flexion-extension” - at an unusual pace, which gave it a completely new coloring.

It couldn’t be otherwise, which is why the thought of a tidal wave was associated with this gymnast - a somersault on a balance beam was the most striking expression of the innovation of the coach and athlete. In fact, such an element “on the blade of a log” cannot be performed just like that; it requires something special. Renald Ivanovich Knysh found this special thing in Korbut, but it took time to develop what he found. And patience.

In 1969, at the republican championship in the free program, Olya Korbut gave such a “fight” to Tamara Lazakovich that the latter was saved only by a more stable performance in the compulsory program. Here Korbut showed her original somersault on the uneven bars.

How did this nameless trick enter the girl’s arsenal?

Completely by accident, recalls Ronald Ivanovich. - Once Olya was “playing around” on the uneven bars and suddenly did something unimaginable. I had to strain my memory to reproduce everything again. After some time we returned to this element. Such a risky somersault, but Olya did a great job - she wasn’t scared.

Then Olya studied in the eighth grade of a specialized school in Grodno. Additionally I studied English...

In July 1971, the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in Moscow. After the compulsory program, there are two bright gymnastics leaders ahead - Olga Karaseva and Tamara Lazakovich. Korbut is not far from them. In the free program she begins to pester the leaders. Everyone is waiting for her performance on the balance beam. Moscow has not yet seen her original backflip. And then the hall froze. And Olya? Her face turned marble white. Works carefully. She swayed a little... She froze. Now it will happen. And suddenly... Olya fell. Naturally, the chances of winning also dropped. But she still received gold. Together with my friends. For a team victory. She smiled with tears in her eyes. Joy and sorrow came together in her. And Olya also said:

I will win the Spartakiad...

It was the girl's passion for sports. Girls hungry for victory. She will keep her word. Four years later, in Leningrad, Olya will rise to receive the medal of the champion of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. Nellie Kim will be standing nearby. Both finished first.

Korbut was in the public eye, but only four years after her entry at the “Olympic Hopes” tournament, Olga managed to win the all-around and, on the eve of the Olympic Games, win the National Cup. And before that, one thing or another interfered with her and, of course, brought her a lot of grief. And the more significant is the triumph at the Olympics in Munich!

The effect exceeded all expectations. The day after Olya demonstrated her extraordinary uneven bars combination to the breathless Sporthalle, the Munich newspapers opened the competition with admiration for the Soviet athlete. As soon as they didn’t call Olya! And “the darling of the Olympics”, and “the chicken of the Soviet team, with his somersault jumping straight into the heart of the public”, and “the child prodigy”... Each of her new appearances on the platform was met with ovation. And then, when the gymnastics competitions had long since ended and new events seemed to have to supplant the impressions of the first Olympic days, Olya Korbut did not disappear from television screens for a long time.

Olga took the lead on the second day - after a free program on the carpet. The audience applauded her for a long time. She took to the bars together with Lazakovich and Zuchold. Her rivals did not scare her, because the uneven bars were her favorite apparatus, and it was here that she and Knysh “created something.”

Although Korbut wrote in her book “Once Upon a Time There Was a Girl”: I was always afraid of the “Loop.” Yes Yes Yes! Even having mastered it to the point of automaticity, to almost one hundred percent stability, I always, until the very last day in big sport, approached the uneven bars, and my heart fell into the abyss of fear. Wobbly legs, dizziness, nauseating weakness. The thought of escape, of a shameful escape to the hooting and whistling of the audience, each time took on very real shape. I don’t know how it turned out for others, I was ashamed to ask. Perhaps this was the natural, ordinary excitement that visits all athletes without asking for a way out. Including those - I’m sure - to whom journalists attach dubious labels like “a man without nerves”, “iron”. Another thing is that Ren taught me to keep my will in check.”

In Munich, something irreparable and terrible happened, as it seemed to many. Two points deducted by the judges for the uneven bars exercises, like a tsunami, smashed the plans of Knysh and Korbut to smithereens. This is what it seemed to those who had even the slightest connection to Korbut’s performance. Knysh sat down in his chair, and his face became even more inscrutable. Erica Zuchold, Olga, a friend from the GDR team, burst into tears. It was as if the national team coach Polina Astakhova had been petrified; she immediately remembered her own fall in the now distant Olympic Rome, and she shuddered at the thought of what a childish ordeal befell the soul of the young gymnast. The hall fell silent in confusion. And only the cameraman - a bearded giant in a black leather jacket - rolled the camera at Olga Korbut, trying to look into the girl’s face in order to mercilessly show the world in close-up every tear, wrinkle, grimace of pain and resentment, internal discord.

She needed to go to the log, and she pulled away from Erica Zuchold and, looking straight ahead, ran up the steps to the platform and froze at the projectile. In the all-around, Korbut became only fifth.

Why, with all the phenomenalness and reckless determination of Olga Korbut, was it not she who became the absolute champion of the XX Olympic Games, but Turishcheva?

Korbut was very excited about her successes: she bowed in all directions, raised her hands and smiled at the stands. Such a glorious feeling as joy, or rather stormy joy, jubilation, an explosion of emotions, requires a huge expenditure of nervous energy. Experienced athletes, such as Turishcheva, knew very well what it was, and took care of themselves, restrained themselves for the time being. But Olga, who first found herself in the tense atmosphere of the Games, could not stand it.

There are also four gold medals. “Don’t miss yours,” Knysh said sternly after failure in the all-around.

And on the last day of the competition, Korbut established herself in world gymnastics as a star of the first magnitude. Olga, on the same uneven bars that brought her so much grief yesterday, coped with her task superbly and lost only to Karin Janz. But she got the hang of it on the beam and floor exercises and was first. Everyone was especially amazed by her floor exercises. Olya surpassed both European champions here - Lazakovich, who was called the most graceful gymnast of the Games, and Turishcheva, whose floor is her favorite type of program.

Until recently, the choreographer and coach were racking their brains: what freedoms could this child come up with that wouldn’t be deliberately adult™, that would demonstrate her amazing acrobatics in all its splendor and that would reveal her character? The latter turned out to be the most difficult - the character was broken, could not be defined, and was not embodied in movement. And yet, through joint efforts, they managed to create a charming composition - “Flight of the Bumblebee,” which Olga performed. But on the eve of the Olympics, she decisively abandoned “Bumblebee”:

These are children's freestyles, I want others!

There were doubts. Is it too early to change? She may be seventeen years old, but her appearance is childish! However, Olga would not be herself if she gave in. She insisted. And she proved that she was right. All her “courage” in free dances to the perky “Kalinka” was revealed with exhaustive completeness.

It was also revealed that shortly before the Munich start, Knysh and Korbut came up with something new - a special, “with a puff” performance of such a traditional acrobatic element as the “flyak”, and decided to insert this spectacular novelty into the freestyle composition. This was very typical for Knysh - not to wait for the new product to “ripen” to full readiness, but to immediately bring it to court, striking both the judges and the audience with such a “suddenness effect.”

Of course, three Olympic gold medals - for the team championship and for victories on individual apparatus - is an unprecedented success for an Olympic debutante, needless to say, and Olga left the Olympics happy! If we take the general opinion of the audience, then the heroine in those days was a schoolgirl from Grodno, Olga Korbut. It was she who managed to completely capture the attention of the audience, make them fall silent, and then, after jumping off, explode the hall in a long and noisy ovation.

When the Kremlin awarded medals to the heroes of the Olympics, she childishly ran away from the top row, jumping over the step. And the Order of the Badge of Honor seemed so big on her small uniform jacket...

In 1973, the USSR gymnastics team went on a twenty-day tour of the United States. Americans went crazy over the miniature Russian prima Olga. Her popularity was wild. One after another, like mushrooms after rain, gymnastics clubs named after Korbut grew.

And a year later, Korbut and Knysh broke up. Ren, as she called him, handed over to Olga Alekseeva. “Perhaps Alekseeva did not break the gymnastics virgin soil, like Ren,” Korbut recalled. “But she knew her job thoroughly and performed it with love, which also does not happen very often. For my last three and most difficult years in gymnastics, she was nearby.

Perhaps Alekseeva was not a coach for me in the usual sense of the word. She didn’t “button up” or “keep her distance.” On the contrary, open, affectionate, sociable, she immediately became a senior comrade, a wise adviser, an attentive interlocutor. We didn’t need any time to get used to it; in our new combination, we quickly found our own maneuver, our own manner of behavior.

The result was amazing! Never - neither before nor later - have I felt so confident and prepared as in the autumn October Varna of 1974. It is not true that the peak of my athletic form occurred in Munich - is it possible to define high points by the number of gold medals won? No, Varna, exactly Varna! I say this not at all in order to throw a stone at Ren after him. I am only stating a fact, albeit based on my subjective feelings.

We have a fairly strong team in Varna - a classic fusion of experience and youth: Lyuda Turishcheva, Elvira Saadi, Rusudan Sikharulidze, Nina Dronova, Nelly Kim and me. Almost by tradition, we won the team championship, although there were sparks of rivalry with the even, solid German Democratic team. Republics were still flogged. Well, in the all-around, again almost according to tradition, Luda Turishcheva took the lead. “Maybe she really was created to win, and I was created to be surprised? - I thought, standing on the second step of the pedestal and swallowing invisible tears spilling inside. - Where did I lose the 0.8 points I lost, how could I lose them if I was perfectly prepared and didn’t make a single mistake? Why were the referees so unfair? Or is it now fashionable for Turishcheva’s “strict” gymnastics, but mine, explosive, liberated, courageous, has fallen in price and is no longer liked? Why then does the auditorium whistle and stomp condemningly every time, as soon as the scoreboard displays my scores? This means they understand, support... No, sorry for the impudence, in Varna I am stronger than everyone else! Unofficially, so to speak.”

This is how I once thought, and time has added or subtracted practically nothing to that old self-confident, almost boastful conviction. Accept it or not, but I always hated pretending to be happy that someone, somewhere, defeated me, even a friend from the national team. She never came up and fawned: “Lyudochka, well done, congratulations.” Rather, she could flash nearby, hiding her eyes and not saying hello, or even snap back and bite: “Listen, you are always lucky, like a drowned man...”

I still won, snatched a gold medal in jumping. In spite of all the injustices in the world. Renovsky’s “360 plus 360” refuted all real and imaginary ill-wishers! Thank you, Ronald Ivanovich!

Gratitude is by no means abstract. After all, Knysh himself was in Varna and directly had a hand in my golden jump.

They didn’t dare take risks in team competitions: there was no stability, they were afraid to let the team down. We were preparing to shoot in the final with shells. The day before, on the day of rest, Alekseeva and I ran into the gym and wanted to quickly assess our pros and cons.

And suddenly bad luck: we struggle, struggle over the jump - no sense, as if in the old days, when I, a beginner, missed the contour and clumsily, clumsily plopped into the foam pit. We continue to jump - as if our forehead is hitting a wall, hopelessly. By evening, something barely hatched. Terribly dubious. We fell asleep with divided feelings: don’t put it, don’t put it? It's probably better not to bet...

In such cases, tomorrow always comes faster than you want. "Korbut!" - the speaker clears his throat. I go out, pull my sock, raise my hand in greeting. “We will jump one regular pirouette,” Alekseeva and I decided in the morning. “We’ll try to do it cleanly and beautifully.” I look back at the podium and meet Ren's eyes. He sits in the front row, almost next to him, shouts and gesticulates. I hear fragments of his phrases: “...Don’t fuss!.. Harsh!” I run, jump, land, stare at the scoreboard. Alas, 9.7. And you need 9.8 for a clear victory. I don’t notice anything, I rush to the take-off point, I turn to Ren, dumbly, and ask with my eyes: what should I do? He, without hesitation, lowers his eyelids: “Go ahead, Korbutiha, “two by 360”!”

I take a running start, spin before touching, spin after touching and... landing on the board! 9.8! But it’s not the assessment that already occupies my attention. I look around and watch in embarrassment and confusion as the gymnasts themselves applaud while standing. Is it really for me?

Here it comes, a moment of sporting happiness “according to Ren”. “What fans are, they are people of emotions,” said Knysh, “it’s not difficult to deceive them with a strawberry, to play on external effects. If you ever manage to surprise your fellow athletes, if you are heartily applauded by someone who himself cooks in a gymnastics kitchen and knows what’s in it, consider that you have ceased to be a craftsman, you have become a Master.”

In 1976, Korbut went to Montreal as a star, from whom they expected new sparks, but she did not light them. This was done by Nellie Kim and Nadia Comaneci. Another excerpt from Korbut’s book:

“By the time a fragment from Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto sounded over the Olympic platform in Montreal, inviting the gymnasts to line up, everything could have been “100 percent.” All old programs have been updated, complicated and rehearsed. The Varna jump “360 plus 360” is perfected to perfection. On the balance beam there is a most interesting combination - a flake and then a blanche roll at the same pace. And the original dismount is a forward somersault with a 540 degree turn. On freestyle - the already mentioned double somersault. And so on and so forth. Yes, everything could be “100 percent”. It could have, but it didn’t.

A few days before the start, my long-injured ankle began to suffer once again. Injuries always happen at the wrong time, that’s their nature! And yet it would be so inopportune! I spared myself and practically did not perform dismounts at the last stage of preparation. The doctors worked their magic on my leg, it seems they patched it up. I’ll knock on the bench with a slightly sore spot and listen, but it doesn’t hurt. As if not... Alas, by the middle of the compulsory program I was no longer just limping, I was hobbling. Trouble has a chain reaction. The personal competition at the Olympics was over for me: I had to throw out the double somersault from the free program, remove the “Korbut somersault” from the uneven bars combination, and cut some things in the rest of the programs. You cannot perform such elements on one leg. They looked me in the eyes and asked: “Can you perform?” “I can,” she said.

It was about the team. For me, letting someone down is a tragedy... For myself, please, a hundred times. Although, if you look at it, when I let myself down at the Olympics, I let down not only myself. Ah, trauma, trauma...

I also have a little strong pride from Montreal. I hobbled to the finish line and endured the pain. Although not expectedly large, she nevertheless made a contribution to the team Olympic “gold”, won for the seventh time in a row by the USSR women’s gymnastics team. I didn’t let down Luda Turishcheva, Nelly Kim, Elya Saadi, Sveta Grozdova, Masha Filatova. “Be calm about this fight,” the “controller not controlled by me” tells me.

A small present, a souvenir at the end of a gymnastics career - a silver medal on the uneven bars. And one more parting consolation: no one still performs the “Korbut somersault” as sweepingly as I do; no one mastered the Varna jump in two years; no one does flakes and blanche rolls at tempo on the beam; none...

If journalists insist that Olga Korbut was an era in gymnastics, I will not object. It’s stupid to refuse something that will never be offered to you again.”

Soon Olga graduated from the history department of the Grodno Pedagogical Institute. In the spring of 1978, a ceremonial farewell to Olga Korbut took place at international competitions in Moscow. And then Korbut got married.

A few months before the wedding, Olga gave her last demonstration performances in Tehran. “Don’t go, Olga!” - the fans chanted to her. At the same time, Olga and Leonid Bortkevich met by chance on an airplane. The meeting of the sports star and the singer of the popular ensemble “Pesnyary” in the country seemed like fate. As Leonid later admitted, it was love at first sight. Olga is in her first marriage. Bortkevich already had a family. He divorced his wife...

At a wedding in one of the Minsk restaurants, about 150 people walked. They danced and sang to “Pesnyary”. The groom also sang.

After leaving sports, Olga took care of her husband. With the tenacity that the coaches put into her, she directed his every step - how to go on stage, how to hold the microphone, how to bow. Then she persuaded him to start a solo career, and Bortkevich left Pesnyary.

But Olga was frankly bored. At home, her merits were quickly forgotten. A coaching position and a salary of 200 rubles was all she had to be content with in the USSR. And America still dreamed of a girl gymnast... The family’s departure to the USA (along with their son Richard) seemed the only right thing to do.

In 2000, after twenty-two years of marriage, Olga and Leonid divorced. Korbut and Bortkevich made the decision to divorce calmly. They raised a wonderful son, Richard, who was twenty-one years old. And perhaps, in fact, as they say now, their marriage has exhausted itself.

In 2002, new trouble happened to Olga - she was arrested on charges of stealing food from a store in the suburbs of Atlanta. By decision of the local court, Olga Korbut was released on bail, the amount of which was set at $600. The cost of the goods the gymnast is accused of stealing was $19. According to manager Korbut, everything that happened was the result of a simple misunderstanding.

According to the gymnast herself, she simply forgot her wallet in the car and went to get it to pay. At the same time, she intended to leave the cart with groceries at the door of the store. “Olga was already at the exit when the security staff decided that she was trying to take the cart with her,” said the gymnast’s manager Kay Weatherford.

On May 16, the famous Girl with Pigtails, an outstanding Soviet gymnast, four-time Olympic champion, celebrates her 61st birthday. Olga Korbut. It was she who first performed an element called the “Korbut Loop,” which was subsequently prohibited by the rules due to its increased complexity and danger. However, the life of an athlete, like her signature element, was very difficult. We recall unknown and ambiguous facts from the biography of the champion.

Hall of Fame number one

Everyone remembers Olga Korbut as a magnificent gymnast who brought a gust of fresh wind to her sport, a winner of everything. However, this is not entirely true. Not many athletes on the planet can boast of six Olympic medals, four of which are gold. But Korbut never crowned her collection with the most important medal for a gymnast - gold in the individual all-around. Moreover, she never placed in the top three in this discipline at the Olympic Games, and at the World Championships she only took second place once, losing to her eternal rival in 1974. Lyudmila Turishcheva. Despite this, it was Olga who was included in the Gymnastics Hall of Fame as number one in 1988. Nadia Comaneci became only the second, and then five years later - in 1993. Turishcheva had to wait her turn for another five years.

Best in the world, second in the USSR

All fans of Soviet gymnastics are well aware of the competition between Korbut and Turishcheva. It is curious that Olga, who eclipsed Lyudmila on the international stage with a brilliant performance at the Olympics in Munich, could not get the better of her domestically for a very long time. For the first time, Korbut became the absolute champion of the Soviet Union only in 1975, being a three-time Olympic champion. One can only admire the school, which trained a whole galaxy of outstanding athletes, for whom winning at international competitions was sometimes easier than in the USSR.

Founder of American Gymnastics

At the Olympics in Munich, the charming Soviet gymnast fell in love with fans from all over the world. And viewers from ideologically alien America were no exception. Moreover, they were so impressed with Korbut’s performance that they invited her to tour in the USA in 1973. The president of the country also met the gymnasts Richard Nixon, and numerous fans in the stands everywhere greeted the champion with applause. Several dozen sports schools named after Olga Korbut have appeared throughout the country. And that visit in many ways became the impetus for the rapid development of artistic gymnastics in the USA.

22 years of family life

A beautiful story of the relationship between champion Olga Korbut and the lead singer of the group “Pesnyary” Leonid Bortkevich is well known to all fans of the gymnast. The couple met on a plane in the USA, where both were flying on tour. The wedding did not take long to happen, and soon a son, Richard, was born. Before moving to America, Olga was expecting another child, but due to the incompetence of doctors, he was born dead. The couple lived together for 22 years, and in 2000 they decided to divorce, but maintained good relations and continued to communicate. Moreover, Bortkevich himself introduced Olga to her new young husband, whose name is Alex.

One champion - two thefts

The family of Bortkevich and Korbut twice experienced the consequences of serious crimes. On her wedding day in January 1979, Olga’s apartment in the city of Grodno was robbed. The thieves took all the valuables from the house, including awards won during their career. This was a serious blow for the athlete. The thieves, however, were found: the organizer of the theft turned out to be one of the athlete’s closest friends. The second time the champion was injured when moving to America. The girl, who was supposed to help the family as a translator, slipped a paper about transferring to herself all the property and funds that are usually given to terminally ill people. Due to ignorance of the language, Olga and Leonid signed it. To restore justice, it later took a long time to go to court.

Punishment for loss of membership card

Having completed her sports career, Olga wanted to stay in gymnastics and work as a coach in the national team. However, the plans were not destined to come true due to the fact that Korbut lost her party card. As punishment, she was expelled from the party for a year, and this deprived her of any chance to engage in serious coaching work. During the year of absence, they managed to forget about the gymnast, and this was one of the reasons why Korbut and Bortkevich decided to leave the Soviet Union. The main reason was the Chernobyl disaster: the couple decided not to expose themselves and their children to additional danger.

Nightmare with a restive horse

Immediately after moving to the USA, Olga experienced another waking nightmare. The champion found herself an unusual hobby - equestrian sport. However, during one of the classes, the horse threw the rider and pierced her chest with its hoof. Korbut developed three internal bleedings, and doctors managed to save the famous champion literally at the last moment by giving her a blood transfusion. The American chapter of the athlete’s life almost ended tragically, just before it began.

A rape that didn't happen?

In 1999, a wild and shocking story was released. In the American tabloid National Enquirer, on the eve of the selection of the best gymnast of the century, a confession appeared from Olga Korbut, who accused her coach Renald Knysh in rape during the 1972 Olympics in Munich. The story did not receive any development or official confirmation: either it turned out to be fiction, or it was somehow hushed up. However, her trail continues to this day: Knysh said in 2011 that the creators of the popular talk show “Let Them Talk” are interested in the relationship between the champion and her mentor. “Malakhov’s assistants called me many times. They asked what I needed, what the conditions were, what the fees were. I said that I have only one desire: to publicly spit in the face of the hated Korbut,” said the coach.

Heroine of a crime chronicle

However, the series of scandals associated with the great gymnast did not end there. Two years later, the name Korbut began to be mentioned in crime reports. First, the gymnast was accused of stealing $19 worth of groceries from a store, although Olga herself explained that she simply went to the car to get her forgotten wallet. A month later, when Korbut came to evict him from a house on which the mortgage was overdue, the police found counterfeit money worth $30 thousand in one of the rooms. Olga’s son, 23-year-old Richard, turned out to be the culprit. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, and after serving his sentence, he was deported from the United States to Belarus. The athlete herself, 10 years later, expressed a desire to move to Russia, but did not find support here and remained to live overseas.

Olga Korbut is a famous athlete who has won the hearts of millions. Honored gymnast, master of sports, Olympic world champion. She is a sports star, an attractive woman and an amazing personality.

Olga Korbut has retired from her sports career, but remains a person whose biography, personal life, family are under the close attention of reporters who are trying to get new photos of the star lady.

Childhood

Born on May 16, 1955 in the city of Grodno. Mother worked as a cook. My father devoted himself to the profession of engineer. Olya is not the only child in the family. She was raised with three older sisters. Living with a large family in Soviet times is not easy. The size of the living space was 20 m². Parents did not spoil their children with gifts due to lack of money.

Olga admitted that the family situation forced her to steal. A girl was caught stealing at a sports school. Korbut got away with the crime thanks to the coach, who saved the future sports star from expulsion.

People who have known Olga since childhood note that from an early age she was different:

• unshakable willpower;
• stubbornness.

This was facilitated by courtyard battles, among which Korbut grew up. The fighting character allowed the talented girl to pave the way to the future.

School years

Olga was not interested in school. She showed good abilities and desire to study until the fourth grade, and after that she preferred new hobbies. The teachers were worried about this fact, and the issue of transferring to another school was considered.

By this time, Korbut understood in which direction she wanted to develop, so her studies did not bother her. The school physical education teacher saw in Olga the makings of a talented athlete and invited her to the gymnastics section. It was not possible to enter the Youth Sports School right away. For the first time, the admissions committee did not accept me. The reason for refusal is excess weight.

At the age of 10, the girl tried her luck. This was the beginning of her path to success. Enrolling in a sports school, she met Elena Volchetskaya, an Olympic champion, who believed in the baby and took her under her wing.

Volchetskaya’s efforts were not in vain. A year later, Korbut received a personal trainer, Renald Knysh, who appreciated:

• Olga's strong-willed character;
• e ability to quickly hone new elements;
• desire strives for more.

Knysh’s collaboration with Korbut contributed to the emergence of new elements in gymnastics. The coach came up with complex gymnastic tricks, and Olga performed them with ease. The young gymnast, despite the illusion of an idyll in her relationship with Knysh, describes the partnership as difficult. It was this that gave impetus to fame.

Success in a sports career

The first serious competition was the “Olympic Hope” youth competition, in which Olga impressed the judges with a complex gymnastic element - a somersault on a balance beam. The future star made everyone talk about her. But the first success did not turn my head.

Under the guidance of a coach, she developed and learned new unique tricks, which were performed at an unusual pace. This feature distinguished the athlete among gymnasts.

For a long time, Korbut’s main rival was Lyudmila Turishcheva, who adhered to the academic school of gymnastics in her performances.

Olga preferred:

• innovation;
• risky style.

The talent of both was amazing, but in the competition there was only one gold medalist. Turishcheva took part in the Munich Olympics. The reason for Korbut’s defeat was a serious mistake, which the judges could not turn a blind eye to. Failure forced the gymnast to work harder.

This bore fruit:

1. The title of favorite in all competitions.
2. Three gold medals.
3. Incredible number of audience sympathies.

Great success awaited her. During the USSR gymnastics team's tour in the United States, Olga realized that her popularity was limitless. Korbut was treated like a Russian prima. She was considered an attractive athlete because of her petite build, undeniable charm, childlike spontaneity and incredible thirst for victory.

The collaboration with Knysh was coming to an end, the gymnast moved to a new coach. Olga Alekseeva had a different approach to her students. Korbut found in the coach a friend and the reliable support she needed.

At the 1976 Olympics, Korbut received one gold medal in the team event. This did not affect its popularity. At the age of 23, she decided to end her career. There were rumors that Olga was switching to equestrian sports, but the star did not confirm the information. After a while, she returned to gymnastics as a coach.

Personal life

Olga spent most of her time, but there was a place for love in her busy schedule. Olga Korbut, speaking about her biography, rarely talks about her personal life, family, rarely shares photos, but some facts cannot be hidden from the media.

Many people talked about the romance between Korbut and Leonid Bortkevich. The gymnast met the lead singer of the Pesnyary group on a plane heading to the USA. Olga was flying to the competition, and the musicians were on tour. During the 8 hour flight, Olga and Leonid chatted about everything.

Fate brought them together again a year later, when Bortkevich decided to leave his wife after learning about her betrayal. He called Korbut, and the next day the gymnast was at his house.

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Leonid firmly decided to win the beauty’s heart and marry her. Before the wedding, the couple lived in a civil marriage. Olga seemed happy in her marriage. She went in for sports, received higher education, and became a mother. After retirement, Olga was looking for a way to earn a decent living. Life on retirement was difficult for athletes in the USSR. The former gymnastics star received offers from the United States to work as a coach with young talents.

There were rumors in her homeland that Olga lived luxuriously, receiving money, cars and apartments for her past successes. The gifts were appropriated by officials and they did not reach Korbut.

Getting to America was not easy. But in 1989 it was possible. While settling in a new place, Olga devoted herself to teaching. At the beginning of 2000, Olga and Leonid separated. The marriage lasted 22 years. The man decided to return to Belarus. Later it turned out that his wife cheated on Leonida. The star decided to have an affair with her young lover (the age difference is 25 years).

Alexey Voynich took Korbut away from the family and became the second husband of the gymnast. The marriage did not last long; Olga prefers not to talk about the reasons for the separation.

The third husband is an American named David. Little is known about the last chosen one. The media learned that the man is the heir of a famous philanthropist and supports his wife. The couple resides in Scotts Dale. Olga Valentinovna suffers from pressure changes.

In America, Korbut quickly settled down before her influential husband arrived. I made new friends, including Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Children

Married to the lead singer of the Pesnyary group, Olga gave birth to a son in 1979. The boy was named Richard. Korbut dreamed of experiencing the happiness of motherhood again, but playing sports affected the woman’s health. The second pregnancy ended badly. A stillborn baby was born, whom the couple wanted to name Ivan.

Richard, after his parents' divorce, lived with his mother in America and was interested in computer technology. In an interview, the guy admitted that studying at school was easy, but higher education institutions were difficult. Richard, thanks to his mother's connections, opened a business.

The guy did not apply for citizenship, but enjoyed residence rights under the Green Card, which played an important role in his life. Richard was deported to Belarus to his father after counterfeit banknotes were found in his house.

Fans of Olga Korbut who are interested in her biography, personal life, family, and the latest photos of the star know that the woman communicates with her first husband and flies to Belarus to celebrate the holidays with her son.

Gymnastics is considered by many to be the most harmonious, spectacular and aesthetically beautiful sport. But at the same time quite risky and dangerous. Do you know what Olga Korbut’s loop is? How is this element performed? What was the fate of the famous Soviet athlete? And finally, why is the Korbut loop banned? In this article we will try to answer these and other interesting questions.

Who is this - Olga Korbut?

Olga Valentinovna Korbut, born on May 16, 1955 in Grodno (modern Belarus), is an Honored Master of Sports of the Soviet Union, domestic gymnast, 4-time Olympic champion. During her sports career, with a height of 152 cm, she weighed 39 kg!

Olga's coach was the famous Renald Knysh. It was she who was the first to perform the “Korbut Loop” element (we will discuss further why the trick was banned). In general, it looks like this: standing on the high part of the bars, the gymnast does a flap, clinging to their upper part. The trick was first demonstrated by Olga at the Olympics in Munich.

Athlete Awards

Along with the question of why the Korbut loop is banned, many are also interested in Olga’s titles. The brave gymnast has many of them:

• Multiple USSR champion. Absolute champion of the Soviet Union in 1975
• Winner of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in 1975.
• World champion in team championship in 1970
• World champion in vault and team championship in 1974.
• Three-time Olympic champion in 1972 - balance beam, team championship, floor exercise.
• Olympic champion in 1976 (team championship).

Biography of an athlete: steps to success

Before we look at why the Korbut loop is banned, let's get acquainted with a brief biography of the gymnast. Olga's sports career began in 1963 - in the second grade she joined Ya. I. Korol's circle. At the age of 10, Renald Knysh became her coach. Five years later, Olga Korbut had her first success - she became the champion of the Soviet Union in vault. At the same time, she became the first who managed to do a somersault on a balance beam.

And then the history of Soviet gymnastics was illuminated by the wrestling of two wonderful girls, Lyudmila Turishcheva, following the precepts of the old academic school, and O. Korbut, demonstrating new trends - athleticism, youth, dangerous elements. Of course, it was Olga who was the audience favorite in the 1972 Olympics in Munich. But, alas, she lost in the overall championship to Lyudmila - Korbut made a serious mistake while performing her signature number on the uneven bars.

However, this did not stop young Olga from becoming a broadcast star. In 1973, she was invited to tour the USA. And in 1974, the film “Miracle with Pigtails” was shot (I. Mazurkevich played the main role). The basis of his script was the biography of Olga Korbut. And she herself performed sports elements on the set.

After the triumph

1976 brought Olga new successes - silver and gold at the Olympics in Montreal. However, it was this year that she said goodbye to her sports career, and in 1977 she graduated from the University of Grodno. The next year Olga got married. Her chosen one was the lead singer of the hitherto famous group “Pesnyary”, musician Leonid Bortkevich. The celebrities lived together for 22 years and had a son, Richard. In 2000, Leonid and Olga decided to separate.

This year, O. Korbut shocked journalists - she put up five of her Olympic medals for auction, as well as personal items associated with her high-profile victories. All this went under the hammer for 183 thousand dollars. According to news publications, the reason for this action is the financial difficulties and problems in her personal life that overtook the former athlete. Olga Valentinovna herself denies the fact of selling her awards.

Loop Korbut

We can figure out why the Korbut loop is prohibited if we imagine what this unique element looks like in execution. The loop is demonstrated only on a pair of crossbars of different heights:

1. Execution begins from the top crossbar. Upon completion of the previous element, the athlete stands on it and pushes off with her feet, while doing a back somersault (in other words, jumping over herself backwards).
2. Having completed this coup in the air, the girl needs to again grab the same crossbar from which she broke away a couple of moments ago.
3. As a result of the resulting acceleration and under the weight of her own body, the athlete rotates clockwise along the crossbar.
4. Next, the girl’s body meets a second, low crossbar on its way.
5. Having encountered it just below the waist, in the hip area, the athlete begins to rotate her legs and arms around this low axis, while gracefully releasing the top bar with her hands.
6. Having made a full turn, the girl needs to spring back with her body, her back, from the axis that begins to bend.
7. As a result of this movement, she flies up in the air - you need to quickly grab the top bar with your hands.
8. Such a complex figure is completed by a graceful dismount onto the mats.

If you look at what is described in the video recording of the athlete’s performances, you will understand why Olga Korbut’s noose is prohibited. Performing an element requires risking both the health and life of the gymnast. One wrong move or miscalculation can lead to very serious injuries.

Is the Korbut loop repeatable?

This spectacular element was invented by the gymnast herself and the coaching staff to shock the audience. And indeed, when watching Olga’s performances on tape, your heart involuntarily skips a beat. The second goal of the Korbut loop is to surpass your opponent with your riskiness, courage, and enthusiasm.

However, this traumatic (if not deadly) element was banned in big sports not immediately after Olga’s debut. The essence of gymnastics is to supplement unusually difficult exercises with new elements, making them even more difficult to perform. This law did not bypass the “miracle with pigtails” trick. Korbut's dead loop was subsequently successfully repeated by another gymnast, E. Mukhina.

Why was the Korbut loop banned?

However, Elena did not stop at the brilliant repetition. She supplemented the most difficult trick with one more element - a screw. But during training, performing an exercise with rotation and landing not on her feet, like Olga, but in a somersault, the athlete was seriously injured. As a result, Elena Mukhina was hospitalized with a broken spine. The Korbut loop with a screw chained her to bed for many years. Rehabilitation led to some success, but the athlete could not move without a wheelchair. At 46, she died of heart failure.

Now it’s clear to us why Olga Korbut’s loop is banned. Performing this trick poses serious risks to life and limb, especially due to the tendency in gymnastics to make already risky elements more difficult.

Four reasons for Olga Korbut's success

So we figured out why the “Korbut loop” element is prohibited. But many people still have a question: how did the “miracle with pigtails” manage to achieve such bright, well-deserved victories? There are several reasons for this:

1. An excellent motor stereotype is the ability to gracefully, deftly move in space, and plasticity, and gait. Those who are unlucky with this have poor posture, general clumsiness, and make unnecessary erratic movements. All of the above is not a death sentence; the situation can be easily corrected by introducing sports and exercise therapy into your life. The experienced eye of R. Knysh discerned O. Korbut’s amazing ability to remember and exactly repeat many complex body movements.
2. Character. By the way, the program of Olga’s triumph was called “Mischief”. Adventurism, fearlessness, and a large share of sports enthusiasm were noted in the athlete’s character. Moreover, she got the loop completely by accident - the girl was just playing around on the uneven bars during training.
3. Trainer. Renald Knysh helped athletes become champions by conducting systematic training rather than aimed at a specific result. So, in the case of Korbut, her training began with the fact that through hundreds of leading exercises, the coach taught her not to be afraid to fly backwards into the unknown.
4. Victory over weakness. Although Olga is a brave girl, in an interview she recalls that she always overcame her fear before performing this trick.

So we’ve figured out why Olga Korbut’s loop is a prohibited element. The reason is not only the enormous risk of injury of the stunt, but also the sad fate of Elena Mukhina, who repeated the loop, improving it.

Anyone who has ever been interested in gymnastics and the people who left a mark on its history has probably heard about Olga Korbut. This woman became a four-time Olympic champion, as well as a three-time world champion.

One of the main achievements of the honored gymnast of the USSR Olga Korbut is that she was the first among women to perform a complex and dangerous somersault, later called the “Korbut Loop.” But these are not all of Olga’s achievements, which deserve the attention of a large audience.

Olga Korbut spent her childhood in the city of Grodno. There, on May 16, 1955, she was born. Since the girl’s parents were simple people, their family could not boast of high income. Mother worked as a cook, while father was an engineer. With their small salary, Korbut’s parents were forced to support not only themselves and Olga, but also the gymnast’s three sisters.

The whole large family was crammed into a small room with an area of ​​20 square meters. However, Olga never suffered from a lack of love and attention. She was the youngest child in the family, and, as often happens, she received all the love of her parents and sisters.

Fact! This is not to say that Olga’s childhood was ideal. Due to lack of finances in the family, the girl became addicted to theft. They even wanted to kick her out of the sports school for this, but the coach defended Olga.

School

It's time to go to school. Olga did not like this at all, since, to put it mildly, she was not drawn to new knowledge. She much preferred spending time playing in the yard with the kids. The fact that the future gymnast spent almost her entire childhood in the company of boys developed in her a strong fighting character.

Every year, Olga’s grades became more and more sad: if in elementary school Korbut studied without C’s, then C’s became an excellent result for her. Due to her poor performance, the question was raised about transferring Olga to a school for mentally retarded children, but, fortunately, this never happened.

Sports endeavors

While in 2nd grade, Olga began to develop her first athletic inclinations. They were noticed by the school physical education teacher Ya. I. Korol. Thanks to him, the girl began to go to the gymnastics section and, perhaps, if not for his intervention, the country would not have received such a great athlete.

Later, Olga Korbut herself developed a passion for gymnastics, and she tried several times to enter the Youth Sports School. The first attempt was not successful, and the girl was not accepted, being considered fat. But the aspiring gymnast did not give up and, when she turned 10, she went back to the Youth Sports School. One of the decisive meetings in Olga’s life took place there - a meeting with Elena Volchetskaya, an Olympic champion. The athlete noticed potential in the little girl and decided to train with her herself.

In 1965, Olga joined the group of Renald Knysh, an honored coach of the USSR. Renald was a true fan of his work and devoted himself completely to it. He worried about Olga’s successes and failures as if they were his own. He came up with new combinations and taught them to the young athlete. Not everything worked out right away; many movements had to be learned through pain and tears. But it was worth it, because without these intensive trainings, Olga Korbut would not have had a wonderful career.

First achievements

Olga first took part in serious competitions when she was 14 years old. At the “Olympic Hopes” competition, the young gymnast surprised everyone with a new unusual trick, “Somersault on a balance beam.” This is a very difficult trick that even the most experienced gymnast could not perform before. This movement became her signature and was named in her honor “Korbut Loop”. The personality of Olga Korbut began to be loudly discussed. At each subsequent competition, Olga showed more and more unique elements. It was as if she had opened up a world of new gymnastics with unusual, previously unknown tricks.

At that time, Korbut was often compared to Lyudmila Turishcheva. Both of them were very flexible and performed complex tricks, but Olga was considered a representative of the “new” gymnastics because of her unique tricks, while her opponent performed fairly standard tricks. At the Olympics in Munich, Olga still lost to Turishcheva, having made a serious mistake in one of her tricks. But the young athlete quickly corrected herself and received 3 gold medals in her next appearances at the Olympic Games.

Shocking Incident

In 1999, an American publishing house published a shocking article in which it was said that Olga’s coach, Renald Knysh, was cruel to his subordinate. The publication claimed that after Olga’s victory in Munich in 1971, a drunk coach burst into Korbut’s room and mocked her, beating and raping her for several hours. According to journalists, this article was written based on information provided by Olga herself.

Important! In 2011, Knysh refuted this statement, expressing his desire to spit in the athlete’s face for such a blatant lie.

Be that as it may, after 4 years Olga got a new mentor and part-time coach - gymnast Olga Alekseeva.

Completion of a gymnast's career

Olga Alekseeva became not only a coach for Korbut, but also a true friend. During all the difficult moments in the gymnast’s life, Olga Alekseeva was nearby and helped to cope with the problems. Although Alekseeva’s character was much nicer than Olga’s previous coach Renald Knysh, her professional qualities did not suffer from this. In 1976, Olga Korbut received 1 gold medal in the team competition, after which she decided to give up artistic gymnastics and leave the sport.

Marriage to Leonid Bortkevich

The young gymnast met her first husband in 1976. Her chosen one was Leonid Bortkevich, the lead singer of the Pesnyary group. The couple met on the plane when Leonid and his team were flying on tour to the USA. At that time, Bortkevich was already married, but this did not stop the lovers from chatting for 8 hours without a break.

Then, for a year, the couple did not even see each other, and perhaps this was where their acquaintance was interrupted, if Leonid, having learned about his wife’s betrayal, had not gotten drunk and called Olga. At the very first request, Korbut came to her lover, fed him, cleaned up, and then went back.

The next morning, Leonid called his mother with the words: “Mom, I’m getting married!” Soon the couple actually got married. While married to Leonid, Olga gave birth to his son Richard. The family was expecting another child, whom the parents wanted to name Vanya, but the baby was stillborn.

The pensions paid to athletes in the USSR were quite small, so Olga and her husband were constantly eager to go to the USA, from where invitations often came. But for a long time the couple could not obtain permission to leave. In 1989, the gymnast finally managed to cross the border, and she and her family settled in the United States. There she wrote memoirs and taught gymnastics to little girls.

Subsequent personal life

In 2000, Leonid was forced to return to Belarus. Soon the couple broke up, unable to withstand the test of distance, due to Olga's betrayal. Despite this, the former spouses are now on friendly terms. However, Korbut did not have a relationship with her young lover Alex, who was 25 years younger than Olga.

Recently, information has appeared about Olga’s third husband, David, who is the heir of his philanthropist father. The couple lives happily and comfortably in the American state of Arizona, where the newlyweds moved due to Korbut’s high blood pressure.

Life now

After leaving sports, Olga Korbut’s life did not worsen at all. Now among the athlete’s friends there are very influential people, including Donald Trump himself. In 2017, Olga sold her personal belongings, including medals, at an auction. Because of this, there were rumors that Olga’s financial situation was very poor at the moment, but this is absolutely not the case.

This is interesting! At the auction, Olga earned 225 thousand dollars.

The gymnast’s son Richard lives in St. Petersburg, develops his own business, and raises his son Valentin, named after the father of the star grandmother.