Olga Korbut
Olga Korbut (Russian Ольга Валентиновна Корбут, Belarusian Вольга Валянцінаўна Корбут / Wolha Waljanzinauna Korbut; born May 16, 1955 in Hrodna ) is a retired Soviet gymnast of Belarusian origin. She lives in the USA.
Biography
Korbut was the youngest daughter of an engineer and a cook. At age ten, she began her training in 1965 at a gymnastics school with Elena Volchetskaya. At the age of 15 years she was a member of the Soviet national team and finished third in all-around at the World Cup 1970 in Ljubljana behind the winner Lyudmila Turischtschewa the 5th Place. Seventeen year old Olga Korbut was one of the most popular sportsmen, especially by their bad luck of falling during the all-around competition, which ensured that they finished only 7th in this competition at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972. The following devices competitions they then won gold for her floor routine, however, and gold on the balance beam and together with Erika Zuchold silver on the uneven bars behind its German rival Karin Janz. The gold medal with the Soviet team made it one of the most successful participants in the Games of 1972. During public and the sports press Korbut, the only 38 kg weighed at the Olympic Games in 1972 at a height of 1.55 m, received the nickname " The sparrow of Grodno. " In the same year Korbut was awarded the Sportsman of the Year Award from the Associated Press.
At the World Championships 1974 in Varna she became world champion in horse jumping and in the team and Vice World Champion in the all around at the bar, on the ground and on the uneven bars. At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal she won again with the Soviet team gold medal and silver on beam.
They won at the Olympic Games four gold and two silver medals at the World Championships and two gold and three silver medals. In 1977, she ended her active sports career and became Belarusian head coach for women's gymnastics. In 1988 she was admitted as the first member of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. At the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, she served as an Olympic attaché of the Belarusian team.
She was married to 2000 with the singer Leonid Bortkewitsch, with whom she has a son. After her divorce, she married Alex Woinitsch. They moved to Scottsdale or Phoenix, Arizona, to the USA. In the U.S., she opened a gymnastics school.
Korbut also be seen in Madame Tussauds in London on the balance beam.