Athletes: Olga Korbut

Olga Korbut (1955-present) is a former Soviet gymnast who gained international fame for her performances in the early 1970s. Known for her extraordinary agility and charismatic presence, she captured the world's attention at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where she did innovative routines, featuring moves like the "Korbut Flip." She revolutionized gymnastics by making the sport more dynamic and artistic. 

For Further Reading: 

• 50 stunning Olympic moments No47: Olga Korbut redefines gymnastics 
• Taking a Tumble
• Olga Korbut: ‘The Sparrow from Minsk’ who changed gymnastics
• The Rise (and Fall?) of the Little-Girl Gymnast

This month we're celebrating the women who performed physical and mental feats in sports. They overcame societal barriers, personal struggles, and fierce competition to pursue their dreams of glory. We're talking about Athletes.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello. For Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this
is Wamanica this month for celebrating women who performed physical
and mental feats in sports. They overcame societal barriers, personal struggles,
and fierce competition to pursue their dreams of glory. We're
talking about athletes. With her hair pulled back in messy pigtails,

(00:27):
she perched on the high bar of the uneven bars.
In the blink of an eye, she effortlessly flung her
body backward to complete a full flip, just in time
to grab the same bar. When the routine was done,
she saluted and flashed a big smile. The crowd couldn't
believe what they'd just seen. With just a couple of
bold new moves, she'd changed the sport of gymnastics forever.

(00:51):
Let's talk about Olga Corbett. Olga Corbett was born on
May sixteenth, eighteen fifty five, in Belarusia, now known as Belarus.
The country was part of the Soviet Union. The Soviets
took gymnastics very seriously, so much so that years later

(01:12):
Olga said, I was born in gymnastics. I didn't think
about anything else. I didn't know what gymnastics means, what
is that? I never saw gymnastics before. I just felt
it in my body. When Olga started gymnastics at nine
years old, it didn't take long for her to earn
a spot at one of the elite schools. She was
first coached by a former Olympic gold medalist, but when

(01:36):
that coach recognized Olga's raw talent, she suggested that the
schools head coach, Reynald Kinish, take over Olga's training. Reynald
was a gymnastics visionary. When he saw Olga's strength and
willingness to take risks, he saw someone who could make
his gymnastics dreams come true. At the time, gymnastics was
less about acrobatics and more about poise and Elegances often older,

(02:00):
more experienced women who moved similarly to ballerinas. But Reynald
wanted the sport to evolve, and he knew tiny, fierce
Olga was up for the challenge. In nineteen sixty nine,
at the Soviet National Championships, Olga showed a different, more
dynamic side of gymnastics. She debuted two tricks that no

(02:21):
other gymnasts had ever mastered. A backflip on the four
inch wide balance beam and a backflip on the uneven bars.
For this second skill, Olga stood on the high bar,
tucked in a squat, and then launched her body into
a backward somersault, only to catch the same bar she
had just lept from. She was just fourteen years old.

(02:43):
Critics said these moves were too dangerous for women gymnasts,
but Olga rejected that she believed she was showing them
that difficult was beauty. In nineteen seventy two, she placed
third at the Soviet National Championships and qualified for the Olympics.
The nineteen seventy two Olympics were held in Munich, Germany.

(03:03):
These Games were highly anticipated and highly political. The United
States and the Soviet Union were still in the throes
of the Cold War, the African state of Rhodesia had
just been banned from participating, and Germany was looking to
redeem itself from the Nazi run nineteen thirty six Berlin Games.
The world needed a temporary escape from the international chaos.

(03:27):
Although Olga came in as the relatively unknown underdog, she
was still expected to win a medal. After all, Soviet
gymnasts had dominated the Olympics for the last twenty years.
At seventeen years old, with multiple tricks up her sleeve,
Olga fearlessly took on the world's biggest stage in sports.
On the first day of competition, Olga wowed the crowd

(03:49):
with her beam routine. When she did the backflip, a
hush fell over the stadium. No gymnasts had ever done
this at an international competition before. When she finished, the
audience roared its approval. When it came time for the
uneven bars, Olga was ready to shock the world again,
but she made one mistake after another and barely made

(04:11):
it through her routine. She walked off the mat and
sobbed in frustration. This public display of emotion was unheard
of for a Soviet athlete, but Olga didn't conform. She
charmed the world with her rawness and childlike innocence. On
day two, Olga once again came face to face with
the uneven bars. This time, she did the routine flawlessly.

(04:35):
She debuted what would be known as the corporate flip
on bars. The crowd erupted. Olga had not only just
done a move that no gymnast had ever done before,
but a move that most gymnasts would never even think
to do. When the judges gave Olga a nine point
eight out of ten, the eleven thousand person crowd was

(04:55):
outraged for a trick that surely Olga deserved a perfect ten.
The crowd whooped and hollered against the score, but ultimately
the judges didn't budge. Olga took home the gold and
balanced beam floor and the team all around, but nabbed
only the silver on bars. Still, Olga had made her

(05:16):
mark on the sport dubbed the sparrow from Minsk. She
transformed a sport that was once very niche into entertainment
for the masses. Overnight, Olga became an international superstar. She
went on numerous world tours with the Soviet team. She
was recognized everywhere. The fame was overwhelming, and on top

(05:37):
of that, Olga was highly aware of the role she
played for the Soviet government. According to Olga, her appearances
at the various exhibitions helped show the world that the
former Soviet Union is the best. When she met President
Richard Nixon, he told her that her performance in Munich
did more for reducing the political tension during the Cold
War between our two countries than the embassies were able

(05:59):
to do in five years. But eleven months after the Games,
the International Gymnastics Federation banned the Corbett flip due to
safety concerns. Frustrated by the decision, Olga threatened to quit.
She said, gymnasts are not guaranteed against injury. In effect,
I am asked to revise my views on gymnastics without

(06:20):
being given any choice in the matter. Gymnastics is a
bad expression. Although she didn't have much time to prepare,
Olga competed in the nineteen seventy six Olympic Summer Games
in Montreal, Canada. There she came face to face with
her own impact. She was now twenty one, competing against
hungry and daring teenage girls, Olga struggled to keep up.

(06:43):
She finished the competition with just one silver medal on
bean and a team gold medal. Olga had been replaced
by the fourteen year old Romanian sensation Nadia Komenech, who
received gymnastics first perfect ten. After the Montreal Games, Olga retired.
She returned to the Soviet Union, got married and had
a son. Later, she became the first gymnast inducted into

(07:07):
the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. In nineteen eighty six,
there was an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Olga could see the cloud of radiation from her home
in Minsk. She got involved in relief projects and raised
money for victims of radiation poisoning, but in an effort
to protect her family from harm, she moved to the

(07:27):
US and made a home in Atlanta, Georgia. There she
began a new life as a gymnastics coach. Today, Olga
works as a private gymnastics coach in Scottsdale, Arizona. All month,
we're talking about athletes. For more information, find us on
Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan,

(07:51):
my favorite sister and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow