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In the mid-70s, this girl with pigtails, who lives in the small Belarusian city of Grodno, broke all popularity records. And extravagance too.
Not like everyone else
We met in November 75th. A brilliant little gymnast and an aspiring reporter from a large youth newspaper, supposedly intended for people like her. We went into her apartment, filled with cups and other attributes of universal glory. There was a long list of questions prepared, and an editorial camera, which Olya immediately demanded to remove. Yes, and I, in principle, could get out of a non-provincial luxurious dwelling in ten minutes.
Although, like everyone who loves sports, I idolized this girl who made the Great Korbutov revolution in gymnastics. She won three gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics. "Somersault Korbut", "Loop Korbut" and the devil-those that, invented by her with the coach Renald Knysh, were banned because of the excessive complexity and risk to the life of the only performer, they were praised as unsurpassed innovation.
She was not like everyone else, and was ahead of gymnastics by years, if not a decade. Let her invariably lose in the individual championship to an excellent pupil, a real leader and a Komsomol organizer of the national team, to the boredom of the neat and correct delegate of the Komsomol congresses Lyudmila Turishcheva. Even if she sometimes fell off even from her favorite beams and logs. In this confrontation between the two schools - the Soviet gymnastics school and her purely Korbutov school, my sympathies were on the side of the girl with pigtails.
I'm afraid it was not the diplomats Gromyko and Dobrynin, namely Olga Valentinovna Korbut, 18 years old, who pushed the window into the States that hated us at that time. Where her tiny, crooked-muscular leg set foot during her first gymnastic tour in the United States, dozens of clubs have sprung up, which were given a name blessed for America. It opened doors for the USSR to foreign countries. And many in the West looked at the Soviet Union in a different way: if such a genius baby was brought up there, then maybe this country can be dealt with? She amazed with her openness, thirst for communication, the ability to establish contact with any stranger on the platform - the spectator.
But not with me.
Could be a bitch
Rudeness from her and perlo. Yes and no, mocking answers to questions. At first I was puffed up, trying to remind about the greatness of the big Komsomol newspaper. Yes, this girl, who saw everything and everyone, did not care about millions of copies, and about prestige. It was enough for her throat, satiated with fame and attention. Never before, nor in the next 33 years, I was not received like this in a boorish way.
I was already collecting money. I already listened to the reproaches of her rather sweet, very simple mother: "A man came to you from Moscow, on the train, sideways, shaking ..." She with unbraided pigtails seemed to me now an awkward, absurd arrogant freak, with whom there is nothing to talk about ... The route apartment - hotel - station was quite logical. But it was not possible to change the ticket. I was locked in Grodno, which had become disgusting, with its almost only hotel.
You can't just leave us. And I will not help.
And don't, - I snapped.
Get down, this is Olga, - well, yes, otherwise I did not guess. “I'm downstairs at the hotel.
And we went for a walk in sunny Grodno. November, but her luxurious fox coat is a dude! - slightly dragged along the Grodno pavement. And how pleasant it was for Olga to be recognized at every step, requests for an autograph, the attention of passers-by - for the first and last time they saw.
The world is small. For some reason, the dancer Mahmud Esambaev, who was thundering at that time, suddenly met. He was at our house, at my father's, but did not recognize me, and did not pay attention at all. Already not at all young, he bowed in his usual hat in three deaths, kissed Olya's hand, invited him to today's concert, held out two tickets as if prepared in advance.
Let's go to? - she asked when the People's Artist of the USSR disappeared just as suddenly, bowing theatrically.
No - I was still pouting. And she, having crumpled up the tickets, threw them right on the pavement. She was a decisive girl.
And then, by God, I don’t know why, a wide river of revelation poured down. Did you want to speak out? Have a new interlocutor? Hardly for a newspaper. She told me everything. Or almost everything. How I lay three times in the hospital with a concussion and how it was forbidden to write about it. How tired of the coach Renald Ivanovich with instructions and something else there and his partner assigned to her, Olga. She talked about the eternal fear that does not leave when she goes to the platform. For us, the spectators, her flights are a circus, a performance, for her - a game, if not with death, then with risk. Sometimes the performance ends sadly. And now I have been in the hospital for more than a month. The coach visited, but for what? Looked when you can start again?
And she was tired of everything to hell, even to something that couldn't be written about. She is already 20, and each element is given more and more difficult. And fear suffocates. And competitors too. Well, how do people who evaluate gymnastics do not understand that the future is for her, for Korbut, and not for those who come out, "waved his arms and legs" and took the medal? And not a word about the anthem, about the honor of defending the Motherland and the like, in those days, well, simply obligatory, as in the days of tsarism "Our Father".
And I don't need medals and titles.
What do you need?
Need love, not medals
The love of the audience. When I just warm up, I can already feel them. If you manage to establish contact with them - success is assured, - suddenly it is completely incomprehensible: - I would like to enter the Moscow Art Theater School. Or to the Shchukin school. No, better at the Moscow Art Theater.
But why at the Moscow Art Theater?
And in a girlish way, purely provincial naive, although he bowed down, kissing a weary gymnastic palm, People's Artist Esambaev:
And there the actors are more impressive.
In the morning Knysh and his assistant Alekseeva came to the hotel. Renald Ivanovich complained to me about Olga, about unwillingness to train, to defend the honor of the Soviet country with dignity. On the violations of the regime occurring in the pupil. What I myself was a sin last night, I could see.
In short, everything or almost everything was soon published in the Komsomol newspaper. In the harsh and sleeping Brezhnevism, this sounded a strange, unusual revelation for the Land of Soviets. It's okay that the fraternal youth publications of the socialist countries, friendly to us, have diligently reprinted all these unexpected confessions. The International Herald Tribune, the only American newspaper known in the USSR, quoted the harshest and most memorable quotations, accurately reproducing the nuances of a complex translation.
It should have been, a scandal was already slowly flaring up. In the Central Committee - MK believed: they have distorted and perverted the words of the Soviet gymnast. But for some reason everything went out. Olga there, in Grodno, confirmed that everything was so, she said. The editorial office in the fashion of the time was overwhelmed with letters, everyone wanted to help poor Olya, they asked for an address and telephone number ...
And I met Olga already in July 1976 at the Olympics in Montreal. Although Oli was no longer there. And there was a trained tin soldier, the Romanian Nadia Comaneci, ahead of our Nelly Kim, and the same staunch Luda Turischeva. Although Korbut won as a member of the team, she lost even on a balance beam to the Romanian, taking second place. She was unrecognizable. What a girl with pigtails. An adult and tired woman was struggling with a new generation of gymnasts, who had just been born and full of strength. Yes, gymnastics Korbut won. But even more complicated, risky, cruel.
It is no coincidence that at these Beijing Games, the hosts suspected that they were releasing absolutely girls on the platform. Women's gymnastics at that time ended with Korbut's career. Trying to repeat something from Korbutov's Elena Mukhina received a serious injury, and only the arrival of Svetlana Khorkina, no less brilliant and obstinate than Korbut, for a couple of Olympiads brightened up the faded picture.
It was a pity to look at the gymnasts in Beijing, especially ours. And the Chinese women are very scary. Poor seven-graders ...
Where is Olga Korbut now?
She married the songwriter Bortkevich, gave birth to his son, named Richard in the Korbutov style, lives in the USA. In the little-known state of Arizona, in his own school, or in the gym, he trains unknown American women.
She divorced after two decades of marriage with Bortkevich, who returned to Pesnyary. Often gets into stupid scandals. Either they will be accused of non-payment of 19 dollars in a supermarket, or they will find some counterfeit money in the apartment of Olga's close relative. Silly accusations are not confirmed. She remained herself - risky, self-confident, pretty in her 50s and only gained a kilo in weight.
Now there is talk of her returning home. The house is the same - Belarus, only the country and life are completely different. What can they offer her at home? As I read in Belarusian newspapers, the total salary with all the markups is 150 dollars. I am afraid that after almost two decades in the United States, none of "our Americans" will last for it, let alone Korbut. And with whom to return? A coach? What? I'm not sure, but I think the paths are completely cut off here. Coach Knysh is also sarcastic.
But there are people who can and should be forgiven for everything. Although, why forgive Ole Korbut? It is not necessary to forgive, but to thank for the perfect for our gymnastics. A girl with pigtails, an amazing gymnast, and a diplomat in the past. Her big gymnastic life ended at the age of 21. Then a different existence began. And it is wonderful that all this continues without deviating from what was intended.
Name: Olga Korbut
Age: [b] 62 years old
Place of Birth: Grodno, Belarus
Height: 152 cm
The weight: 50 Kg
Activity: gymnast, coach
Family status: divorced
Olga Korbut - biography
The name of this Soviet gymnast was no less famous in the world than the name of the first cosmonaut. Today, the 62-year-old athlete, who has lived in America for many years, has returned to her homeland to reveal the secret: at what cost she was given the first Olympic gold.
It was 1963. An ordinary physical education lesson began in one of the schools in the Belarusian city of Grodno. Among the identical girls in black shorts and white T-shirts, one stood out - Olya Korbut.
Physical instructor Yaroslav Ivanovich noticed Olga for a long time. Unusual plasticity, grace, precision in movement were combined in her with audacity, firmness and even rudeness. Like a wolf cub driven into a corner, Olya snapped at any comment. She did not want to study and, as a result, the teachers disliked such a student. Many times, due to hooligan behavior, they tried to declare her mentally retarded and transfer to a correction class.
And when the girl was caught stealing in a store, the question arose about expulsion. Nobody stood up for Korbut, except for the physical education teacher. Yaroslav Ivanovich knew that the girl was growing up in cramped conditions - the salary of her father-engineer and mother-cook was barely enough to feed her four daughters, the family huddled in a one-room apartment. Nobody was involved in raising Oli. Later, the parents were genuinely surprised when they learned that their youngest had been doing gymnastics for more than one year.
Fizruk decided to have a serious talk with his student. If you want - go along the inclined path and you will live in a children's colony, if you do not want - come to my gymnastics section: you have the makings. By the beginning of training, Olya timidly knocked on the door of the teacher's room. She dreamed of becoming an athlete, but she was not taken to the children's and youth school because of her excess weight, although the girl was never fat. Now she jumped at her chance.
Her pressure and ability to work hard was appreciated by the coach of the sports school Renald Knysh, to whom 10-year-old Olga fell. He immediately decided that he would raise a champion from a girl, and developed an indie-video program for her. At that time, artistic gymnastics was not distinguished by particularly difficult exercises.
Knysh, on the other hand, relied on them: Olga's program included a large number of risky elements, including a somersault on a log. The girl performed this element for the first time in the world - later it will be called the "Korbut loop" and is prohibited from being performed at official competitions due to the danger to life.
There were falls, injuries, long recovery. Gritting her teeth, Olga came to training again and again.
And here it is - her finest hour. At the 1972 Munich Olympics, she won three gold medals and one silver medal at once. The world applauded the slender 17-year-old girl, who was nicknamed "the miracle with pigtails" for the brilliant performance of the most complicated program.
The next morning, the USSR ambassador called Olga and said that the American president had personally invited her and the entire team to the White House.
After the tour of the White House, Olga was escorted to the press room. Seeing her, a tall man in a suit exclaimed: "Oh, you are such a little girl!"
Olga answered in her own manner: "And you are such a big boy!" The man laughed. It was President Nixon. Journalists laughed, and the newspapers recalled for a long time how the "little girl" ended the Cold War between the USA and the USSR: the following year, Nixon paid an official visit to the Soviet Union.
However, not everyone knew what price Olga paid for her success. Many years later, in his autobiographical book, Korbut will write that coach Renald Knysh repeatedly beat her and harassed her. Once he gave her such a hard slap in the face that he injured her eardrum and she could not exercise for a week.
Intoxicated by the success of his ward at the Olympics, Knysh burst into her hotel room, tried to drink brandy, and when she refused, he raped. Why did Olga not tell anyone about this then, many years ago? She was, in fact, still a child and was very afraid that they would not believe her. In addition, a feeling of gratitude was mixed with the pain and horror of what she had done - after all, Knysh did a lot for her in terms of a sports career, turned her into a star of world gymnastics.
Later Knysh, according to Olga, regularly repeated what he had done. And yet she managed to escape from his influence and change her coach. With Alekseeva, she won her fourth gold and second silver Olympic medals in 1976 in Montreal and announced the end of her sports career.
Korbut managed to get a diploma from the Faculty of History of Grodno University, but he did not have to work in his specialty.
Olga Korbut - biography of personal life
In 1975, Olga went to the United States for demonstration performances. On the plane, the members of the Belarusian group "Pesnyary" flew with her on tour. So she met Leonid Bortkevich, whom she married three years later. Many times, doctors told her that due to sports activities she would not be able to have children. However, a son was born in the family, who was named Richard. By that time, Olga and Leonid were already living in America.
Korbut was in great demand: the Americans adored her, every parent dreamed of giving his daughter to Olga's artistic gymnastics school. In Arizona, the couple had a luxury home with two swimming pools. At some point, Olga realized that she did not want to go back to the USSR "for a salary of 100 rubles." This was not a purposeful emigration, but at home they did not forgive. The name of Olga Korbut was anathematized. It was forbidden to write about her in the Soviet press, in her native Grodno, neighbors threw garbage under her mother's door ...
A divorce followed 22 years later. Bortkevich could not realize himself in the USA and went on tour with Pesnyary in Russia. In one interview, he called Olga's betrayal as the reason for the divorce, but stressed that he and his ex-wife remained friends.
The second husband, journalist Alexei Voynich was 25 years younger than Korbut. According to the athlete, she married him out of pity: he needed American citizenship.
The third common-law husband was a wealthy American Jay Schenfilt, also much younger than her. Jay lived next door to Olga, and his cat often ran on her lawn. So they met. The woman asked which of the Russians named Olga he knew. He thought about it and replied that only Olga Korbut. "So this is me!" - the athlete smiled.
Today, the name of Olga Korbut is mentioned in the press no less often than during her Olympic victories.
True, the reasons are less worthy: either her son was imprisoned for 3.5 years in an American prison, then Olga herself was caught stealing food in a supermarket. And in 2017, a scandal erupted: Korbut sold her Olympic medals at an auction! At first, it was argued that in "damned America" \u200b\u200bshe was starving and barely making ends meet. When it turned out that this was not so, Olga Valentinovna was recorded as a traitor.
Korbut herself comments on the story as follows. She had previously been offered to sell medals - one rich man was even ready to pay a million rubles for each. But she refused. One of the medals was stolen from her - the gymnast later found it in the sports museum, and could not return herself even through the courts.
And once her husband jokingly suggested that she put up medals at an online auction - they say, let's see how they value you. Then Olga wanted to withdraw the lot, but it turned out that according to the rules of the auction, this was impossible: there was already a buyer for the medal, who paid almost 200 thousand dollars. Olga spent this money on charity, which she does not regret: if they themselves caused so much grief, then let at least someone benefit.
Olga Korbut: biography, personal lifeOlga Korbut's biography and personal life turned out to be very rich. She has been married three times and has enormous political connections in the United States of America. We can say that her life was good. Of course, one cannot fail to note the dark sides of her biography. Her career was fleeting and difficult, in order to gain universal recognition, she had to perform the most difficult exercises, which sometimes caused her fear.
Olga Korbut is a talented athlete who devoted most of her life to gymnastics. Some of the most important achievements of this personality are 4 gold medals at the Olympic Games, gold of the USSR championships and three gold medals of the world championships. Olga Korbut deserved all this, she was so talented. The main achievement is her trademark somersault on a log, which is called "Korbut Loop". Her performances have always been bright and interesting. Many foreign athletes were surprised at how talented she was and no one was able to surpass her.
Olga Korbut: photo
After reading the biography and information about the life of a gymnast in more detail, one wonders how talented a person can be in the dirtiest situations.
Her interviews more than once focused on her first coach Knysh, whom she accused of harassment and rape. It is wrong to report such events decades later, especially when a person is of old age.
Maybe it was true, or maybe a good publicity stunt to remind you of yourself. Many users sometimes have a question whether Olga Korbut is still alive, what changes are taking place in her personal life and biography. Of course, she is in good health and regularly updates her social networks with new photos.
Biography
In 1955, Olga was born in the city of Grodno, now the Republic of Belarus. The family was quite simple: my mother worked in one of the local canteens as a cook, and my father was an engineer all his life. Of course, the conditions in which they lived were not very optimal. In a small apartment of 20 square meters, there were four girls, a father and a mother. Olga had three more sisters, and she was the youngest. As a child, a young gymnast was caught stealing more than once, this was a very serious crime in the Soviet Union. As a result, she could end up in a children's colony, but the coach of the young talent was still able to intercede for her.
Olga Korbut is a famous gymnast
In 1963, her physical education instructor notices in her certain talents and aptitude for gymnastics. In general, her sports career began just then, but difficulties could not be avoided. During her studies at school, they even wanted to transfer her to an institution for mentally retarded children, since she did not want to study at all. She wanted to play more sports, but there was no desire to study. They did not want to take her to the youth sports school either, to the gymnastics section, because of problems with being overweight. In general, her childhood was not like a real athlete.
Now Olga Korbut plans to write a biography, which will indicate some facts from her personal life, sports career, and so on. Working abroad brings her considerable income, as Olympic champions who retire immediately become coaches or consultants. In general, prospects for Korbut opened up after the end of her sports career at 23, but for political reasons she was not allowed out of the country.
Career
Still, at the age of ten, she enters a sports school and starts working with Elena Volchetskaya, who at that time was already an Olympic champion. Then there was one of the best trainers in the USSR, Knysh. He realized that this girl is talented and she will make a good athlete. The training took place according to an individual program. The coach tried to develop such workouts that could fully reveal the girl's potential. Of course, there were many falls and difficulties that she was able to overcome with ease.
The athlete was trained according to an individual program.
At the age of fourteen, the young gymnast showed everyone what she was capable of. The trainer himself has developed a unique program for her and a somersault on the balance beam. Many eminent coaches started talking about the girl's talent. In general, success was just around the corner. At that time, few people performed a large arsenal of complex gymnastic exercises, but not Olga Korbut, she was a revolutionary in this regard. One of the main rivals was Lyudmila Turishcheva, with whom they completely differed in their views and vision of new gymnastics. It was a battle between innovation and old school.
In 1972, at the Munich Olympics, Korbut failed to reach his full potential, but this was only the first discipline. Then Korbut won the other three disciplines and received three golds. In general, it was her finest hour. One of the most disturbing statements at this point can be called an interview with Olga, who she gave in 1999. According to her, after the victory, a drunken coach Knysh burst into her room, beat and abused the girl. True or not, no one knows, but the coach himself, after hearing all this, denied it.
Olga Korbut and trainer Knysh
At 18 years old, she was 152 centimeters tall, while she had one of the most difficult gymnastics programs. In 1973, Korbut, together with the gymnastics team of the Soviet Union, went to conquer America. It was a creative tour, many viewers appreciated Korbut's talent. A few years later, Olga goes to another coach. It was a new stage in his sports career. Alekseeva herself was a kind and sympathetic person, she always found a good word to support the athlete. With Alekseeva, she got one gold medal, but not in the individual competition and decided to end her career. Then she herself began to train athletes. She was hired as a trainer in the United States of America, she enjoyed immense popularity. After finishing her career, Olga received a history education and is a certified specialist.
Olga Korbut took the gold medal
Olga Korbut's personal life and biography is regularly updated with new parts and events. She continues to be active in the training of qualified gymnasts in the United States. She is not going to return to Russia, since life abroad is fully satisfied with her. Most importantly, she is completely healthy and often attends various gymnastics competitions. Her life consisted entirely of sports, and she is not going to quit.
The Korbut loop is a forbidden element in modern gymnastics, as it contradicts all safety rules. But before that, it had been improved more than once until it was completely banned. The problem is that while performing this technique in 1980, Mukhina, one of the USSR gymnasts, fell and broke her spine. Her life at this moment became simply empty, for almost 27 years she was paralyzed. It was this event that became fundamental in gymnastics, when all the rules were revised.
Despite all this, the gymnast remains one of the most beloved and famous athletes of the Soviet Union. She achieved unprecedented heights due to her aspiration and talent. Working with the first trainer Knysh is also part of the success. Today, Olga Korbut's achievements have left a mark on her personal life and biography. Today her interviews can only be found in English, as she practically does not communicate with Russian press services.
Olga Korbut and her famous trick
There are a lot of videos on the Internet with Olga Korbut's performances, her interviews about her personal life and biography. Every fan of Olga's talent will be able to enjoy her speech.
Today, many users over and over again revise her signature somersault, which no one performs today. Only a truly professional athlete can make such a contribution to history.
Currently he is a frequent guest of various gymnastics competitions.
Personal life
Olga's husband Korbut appeared in her life very spontaneously. In 1976, she flew in an airplane in which the well-known Leonid Bortkevich was at that time. This meeting was truly unique and opened up completely new perspectives for the gymnast herself. After this meeting, they forgot about each other, but Leonid himself initiated the next meeting. They have a joint child, Richard, Korbut was supposed to give birth a second time, but the baby was dead.
Olga Korbut with her husband Leonid Bortkevich and son
The athlete received an unusually large number of offers from the West, but the authorities did not release her. Her pension as an athlete was so small that she was not even enough for half a month. Only in 1989 did she manage to leave the USSR, she came to the USA and immediately got a job as a teacher. After which Leonid Bortkevich broke up with Olga, as she began dating a young guy who is 25 years younger than her.
Today Korbut is in his third marriage and lives in the state of Arizona. A very rich young guy completely provides a woman with everything she needs. Dating with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the current president of the United States opens up great prospects for her. Olga Korbut very often sees children, who are also of great importance for her personal life and biography.
Son Richard got married and has children, so the gymnast is already a full-fledged grandmother.
Her actions on the personal front have always puzzled fans, but they also continued to love her.
Olga Korbut and Leonid Bortkevich
There are a lot of photos of Olga Korbut on the Internet today, information about her biography and personal life in America. Her achievements did not go unnoticed, as did the person herself. She recently held an auction and sold all of her awards won at the Olympics and World Championships. According to official data, more than 220 thousand US dollars were raised. What prompted her to such actions is not clear, since she lives in a very wealthy family.
Her smile and braids conquered the whole world. When the “Soviet sparrow” jumped on the uneven bars, overcoming the earth's gravity, the hearts of the audience sank ... But it so happened that Olga Korbut was more appreciated abroad - after perestroika, the champion in artistic gymnastics emigrated to America. And now he lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
On the eve of her 55th birthday, Olga Korbut confessed to MK that she was ready for a new loop of fate. She really wants to jump over the ocean and return to Russia.
But I'm not sure if I can land on my feet here.
Olympics in Munich, 72nd year ... Olga Korbut, flashing her famous smile, was preparing to make her signature number - to jump on the upper bars, in a matter of seconds make a loop back in the air and land back on the upper bars. She still does not remember what she made a mistake when she fell on the mats ... The stands were quiet, the girl was crying, hiding her face in her palms, her little braids trembled ... Viewers at TV screens around the world were crying with the athlete.
- For that failure, the audience was imbued with sincere sympathy for you even more ... Do you think that you have lost or won something more than a gold medal?
“I didn't lose even then, although I was very offended,” Olga Korbut answers the phone with a slight “transatlantic” accent. - Since I fought not for medals, but for the result. And although journalists always remember my first failure, I believe that they fell in love with and recognized me all over the world for my cheerful smile.
- When you arrived in America, Nixon himself met you ...
- Personally, I was given a car right to the plane's ladder, and when Nixon approached me at the conference, I did not recognize him: “You are so little!” - With a smile he looked down at me. "You're not a big boy either!" - I didn’t reach into my pocket for a word. And then it turned out that in front of me was the President of the United States.
- You already knew English well then?
- I realized that I needed the language after I came to the demonstration performances in Japan, and in the evening I went out for a walk and lost my way to my hotel. Passers-by did not understand me. Then I found my room key and showed the name of the hotel to the policeman who accompanied me - it turned out that it was only two blocks away, but I remembered the lesson for a long time.
- Probably, it was not easy for you to leave the big sport shortly after the 1976 Olympics - then you had to remove your famous "loop" from the program ...
- In big sports, I suffered 23 fractures and 4 concussions, and it was during the Olympics in Montreal that old wounds made themselves felt - after the first competition I started to limp openly. And I realized that it was time to tie ... I was offered to be the coach of the Soviet national gymnastics team, for this I had to be a member of the party, and I lost my membership card. For this there was a “punishment” in the Union - they were expelled for a year, and I could not stand idle so much. And from Atlanta I received an offer to sign a coaching contract. And I accepted it.
- How many years have you been doing the loop after that?
- The first time I made a loop by accident and have been perfecting this number for 20 years. Even after moving to America in 1988, she honed her skills at demonstration performances. Now, of course, I don’t do the “loop” anymore - for this you have to constantly train. Although I am in good shape, I have developed and teach a special shaping program that is suitable for any age - from 5 to 90, you can eat anything with it and look great.
- What, do you eat hamburgers?
- I still promote healthy eating, and fast food is a trash heap! I myself adhere to a vegetable, fruit diet ... Although I love pizza, I don't order it in restaurants - I always cook it myself.
Ups and downs
Today Olga Korbut is not married. After 22 years of marriage, in 2000 she divorced her husband, the lead singer of “Pesnyars” Leonid Bortkevich. He did not settle down in America and returned to Belarus, and, although the ocean separates him with his ex-wife, they still consider each other close people ...
“We call each other almost every day,” says Leonid Bortkevich. - Olga has a very difficult time there.
- It is symbolic that you met on an airplane that flew to the USA ...
- This is fate ... In 73, the Pesnyars and I flew to America for the first time. And they got on the same plane with the gymnasts. Began to get acquainted. I was not in the mood for a noisy company, and Olga also huddled in a secluded corner of the salon - they began to get bored together. And they chatted with her for seven hours in a row. “I will never marry an artist or an athlete,” she confessed to me with a laugh. Then we parted ways, and a year later Olga called me exactly a few days after my first wife cheated on me. She herself was also supposed to get married, but had a falling out with her fiancé-athlete and literally ran away from under the aisle. When she appeared on my doorstep, I was stunned by her beauty. "May I come in?" - defused the situation my future wife. And she entered my life for 22 years.
- Did you immediately decide to get married?
- We immediately began to live together. And the Central Committee married us, they called us from the party and arranged a surprise: "Tomorrow you have a wedding, a banquet is ordered!" I had to invite friends at great speed. About five hundred people gathered, even Kobzon was invited ...
- Did you also provide the bride with a dress?
- Did Olga still have a psychological trauma from the fact that coach Knysh was trying too hard to get her?
- Yes, we had to overcome this problem together. Although she spoke of him with great respect. And when Knysh's addictions to youngsters floated out, we went together to the prosecutor and begged to close the criminal case. Still, she loved him on some level.
- Was your son Richard welcome?
- Olga just left the sport, in the Union she was assigned a lifelong allowance of 300 rubles, and for three years she traveled with “Pesnyars” throughout the Union, it was the happiest time in my life. And my wife was spoiled by foreign trips, but she did not know her homeland at all. We were afraid that after so many injuries she would not be able to give birth, we did not succeed for a long time ... We named Richard in honor of my grandfather, a Polish prince.
- You also had to go through a difficult time: the second child was born dead, and then Olga herself almost died due to an accident ... How did you cope with this?
- Misfortune really followed us at one time. It was especially difficult for Olga. They had already thought of a name for the second child, they wanted to call him Vanechka. But the day before the birth, the Belarusian doctor examined Olga unsuccessfully ... We never found out what really happened. We all called with congratulations the next day, and we cried into the phone, reporting the grief. Olga was in a terrible depression, she tried to forget herself in new achievements - she took up sports dressage of horses, but before one meeting with journalists in the stable, the horse threw off the saddle and pierced the chest with a hoof. Olga had three internal bleeding, before my eyes in the hospital she almost died - she had already started to turn blue when she received a blood transfusion ...
Arizona dream
“We decided to leave for America not only for career reasons, but also after the Chernobyl disaster, which hit Minsk hard,” says Olga Korbut. - We were worried about the health of our son.
But Leonid Bortkevich had to leave his favorite business for this ...
“I transferred my responsibilities to the rest of the group for a month,” he says. - In Atlanta, we were given a house, Olga was surrounded by fans, she trained gymnasts and went with demonstration performances, and for two years I was generally idle, studying with Richard, whom we arranged for a local school. Then I sent out my resume, and one company invited me to sell photographic equipment, which I did for five years.
- What made you return to Belarus?
- We had a good relationship with Olga, but I really missed my homeland and what I loved. And I realized that my profession is the meaning of life when I was invited to a festival in Belarus. I went out into the hay again, sang "Birch sap", the audience got up ... And I went backstage and began to cry. When I returned to America, I told Olga that I couldn't live like this anymore. To be honest, there was also a woman in Belarus, Svetlana, with whom I fell in love for a long time, but Olga did not cheat ... She waited for me ten years later.
- Olga calmly let you go?
- She understood everything, we are close people ... So that she would not be left alone, I myself even sent her a groom from Belarus. Our mutual friend Alex was in love with her for a long time, we went with him to the consul, honestly told why we wanted to send Alex to America. He understood everything. And for a while Olga lived with him, but then they fled - they did not agree in character.
- Why did your son Richard return to Belarus too?
- He learned to be a programmer in America and showed such talent in this matter that the American special services caught him hacking. They offered either cooperation with them or deportation. And Richard chose the latter - now he has his own company in Belarus. And Olga was left in America all alone.
- And what a dark story, when in 2002 Olga was detained for theft in a supermarket?
- Yes, she just forgot her wallet in the car, there were only 19 dollars worth of food. Olga was arrested because Russians often steal from shops. And during a search in her house, they found counterfeit bills - Richard printed them out of self-indulgence. I had to pay a deposit for Olga - $ 600.
Korbut confessed to a reporter for “MK” that American men have always been interested in her and she recently preferred one of them.
- But no details, so as not to jinx it.
- Olga, in 2008, for the first time in 20 years, you came to Moscow. Could you live in the capital of Russia?
- During that visit, I told Vitaly Mutko that I would like to share my experience with Russian gymnasts, I have something to teach them, I have tremendous experience. And I would leave my profitable activity in America for this. He promised to think about the proposal, but so far it hung in the air. Strange, but I travel a lot around the world, all countries invited me to the Olympics. But whether they will be invited to Sochi, I'm not sure ...
Olga Valentinovna Korbut (May 16, Grodno, Byelorussian SSR, USSR) - Soviet gymnast, four-time Olympic champion, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1972). She played for the Armed Forces. Trained with Renald Knysh. Graduated (1977) as a trainer-teacher.
Sports biography
Olga Korbut came to gymnastics in the second grade at school in the gymnastics circle of Yaroslav Ivanovich Korol in 1963. At the age of 10, in 1965, she got into a group with Knysh. The first great success came in 1970 - she became the champion of the USSR in the vault and entered the USSR national team. The first gymnast who was able to perform a somersault on a balance beam.
The history of artistic gymnastics includes the confrontation between Lyudmila Turischeva and Olga Korbut. Turishcheva personified the old academic gymnastics school, while Korbut embodied new trends in sports: risky elements, athleticism and youth. At the 1972 Munich Olympics, Korbut showcased innovative gymnastic elements and became a favorite with the audience. However, in a tough struggle for absolute primacy, she lost to Turischeva. Performing in the course of the absolute championship on her signature barbell, she made a serious mistake, and as a result did not even get into the prizes.
In 1976, Olga became a member of the USSR national team at the Games in Montreal, having won gold in the team and won silver on the balance beam.
Personal life
After the 1972 Olympics, Olga Korbut became a star on the air and was invited to tour the United States in 1973. The tour was triumphant, and the beginning of the artistic gymnastics boom in America is associated with them.
In 1974, “based on” her biography, the feature film “Miracle with pigtails” was shot, in which she herself performed sports exercises (starring Irina Mazurkevich).
Olga finished her sports career after the Olympics in Montreal. In 1977 she received a diploma from the Faculty of History of the Grodno University. In 1978 she married the famous singer, lead singer of the Pesnyary group Leonid Bortkevich and lived with him for 22 years, has a son, Richard. They broke up in 2000.
"Loop Korbut"
Olga Korbut was the first to perform the unique element “Korbut Loop”. The gymnast stands on a high part of uneven bars and makes a flak, clinging to the upper bar of the bars with her hands. The element was performed during her uneven bars at the Munich Olympics.
Subsequently, the element was improved by Elena Mukhina - she added a screw to it. Currently, the "Korbut loop" is not performed at official competitions, as it is prohibited by the rules (gymnasts cannot stand with their feet on the top of the bars).
Achievements
- 4-time Olympic champion:
- 1972 - Team Championship, Balance Beam and Floor Exercise,
- 1976 - team championship
- Two-time Olympic champion (1972 - uneven bars, 1976 - log),
- 1974 World Champion in the vault,
- World Champion 1970 and 1974 in the team championship,
- Winner of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR and the absolute champion of the USSR in 1975, multiple champion of the USSR,
- Winner of the silver medal at the 1973 European Championship in absolute superiority.
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An excerpt characterizing Korbut, Olga Valentinovna
- What are you thinking now, Nikolenka? Natasha asked. - They liked to ask each other that.- I? - said Nikolay remembering; - you see, at first I thought that Rugai, the red dog, looked like an uncle, and that if he were a man, he would still have kept his uncle, if not for the race, so by the frets, he would have kept everything. How good he is, uncle! Is not it? - Well, what about you?
- I? Wait, wait. Yes, I thought at first that here we are going and think that we are going home, and God knows where we are going in this darkness and suddenly we will come and see that we are not in Otradnoye, but in a magic kingdom. And then I also thought ... No, nothing else.
- I know, I thought about him correctly, - said Nikolay smiling, as Natasha recognized by the sound of his voice.
“No,” Natasha answered, although at the same time she was really thinking about Prince Andrei and how he would have liked his uncle. - And I also repeat everything, I repeat all the way: how Anisyushka performed well, well ... - said Natasha. And Nikolai heard her ringing, causeless, happy laugh.
“You know,” she said suddenly, “I know that I will never be so happy, calm as now.
“This is nonsense, nonsense, lies,” said Nikolai and thought: “What a charm this my Natasha is! I don’t and never will have such another friend. Why would she marry, everyone would go with her! "
"What a charm this Nikolai!" thought Natasha. - AND! there is still a fire in the living room, ”she said, pointing to the windows of the house, which glittered beautifully in the wet, velvet darkness of the night.
Count Ilya Andreevich resigned from the leaders because this position was fraught with too much expense. But his affairs did not get better. Often Natasha and Nikolai saw secret, restless negotiations between their parents and heard rumors about the sale of a rich, ancestral Rostov house and a house near Moscow. Without leadership, it was not necessary to have such a great reception, and the joyous life was conducted quieter than in previous years; but the huge house and the outbuilding were still full of people, more people still sat at the table. All of these were their own people who settled in the house, almost members of the family, or those who, it seemed, were necessary to live in the count's house. Such were Dimmler - a musician with his wife, Jogel - a dance teacher with a family, an old lady Belova who lived in the house, and many others: Petya's teachers, a former governess of young ladies and just people who were better or more profitable to live with the count than at home. There was no such big visit as before, but the course of life was the same, without which the count and the countess could not imagine life. There was the same hunting, even increased by Nikolai, the same 50 horses and 15 coachmen in the stable, the same expensive gifts for the name day, and solemn dinners for the whole district; the same count's whists and bostons, behind which he, letting everyone seemingly cards, gave himself every day to beat his neighbors by hundreds, who looked at the right to make up Count Ilya Andreich's party as the most profitable lease.
The count, as in huge snares, went about his affairs, trying not to believe that he was entangled and with each step more and more entangled and feeling unable to break the net that entangled him, or carefully, patiently, begin to unravel them. The Countess, with a loving heart, felt that her children were being ruined, that the count was not to blame, that he could not be different from what he was, that he himself was suffering (although he was hiding it) from the consciousness of his own and childhood ruin, and was looking for means to help the cause. From her feminine point of view, there was only one remedy - the marriage of Nikolai to a rich bride. She felt that this was the last hope, and that if Nikolai abandoned the party that she had found for him, she would have to say goodbye forever with the opportunity to improve matters. This party was Julie Karagina, the daughter of a beautiful, virtuous mother and father, known from childhood to Rostov, and now a rich bride on the occasion of the death of the last of her brothers.
The Countess wrote directly to Karagina in Moscow, offering her the marriage of her daughter to her son, and received a favorable response from her. Karagina replied that she, for her part, agreed that everything would depend on the inclination of her daughter. Karagina invited Nikolai to come to Moscow.
Several times, with tears in her eyes, the countess told her son that now that both her daughters were attached, her only desire was to see him married. She said that she would lie down calmly in the coffin if it were. Then she said that she had a beautiful girlfriend in mind and elicited his opinion about marriage.
In other conversations, she praised Julie and advised Nikolai to go to Moscow for the holidays to have some fun. Nikolai guessed what his mother's conversations were heading for, and in one of these conversations he summoned her to complete frankness. She told him that all the hope of getting things better was now based on his marriage to Karagina.
- Well, if I loved a girl without a fortune, would you really demand, maman, that I sacrifice feeling and honor for the fortune? He asked his mother, not understanding the cruelty of his question and wanting only to show his nobility.
“No, you don’t understand me,” said the mother, not knowing how to justify herself. - You do not understand me, Nikolinka. I wish you happiness, ”she added, and felt that she was not telling the truth, that she was confused. - She began to cry.
“Mamma, don’t cry, but just tell me that you want it, and you know that I’ll give my whole life to keep you calm,” Nikolai said. I will sacrifice everything for you, even my feelings.
But the countess did not want to pose the question so much: she did not want a sacrifice from her son, she herself would like to sacrifice to him.
“No, you don’t understand me, we will not talk,” she said, wiping away her tears.
“Yes, maybe I love the poor girl,” Nikolai said to himself, well, should I sacrifice feeling and honor for the state? I wonder how my mother could tell me this. Because Sonya is poor, I cannot love her, he thought, - I cannot answer her faithful, devoted love. And I will probably be happier with her than with some Julie doll. I can always sacrifice my feeling for the good of my family, he said to himself, but I cannot command my feeling. If I love Sonya, then my feeling is stronger and higher than anything for me. "
Nicholas did not go to Moscow, the countess did not renew the conversation with him about marriage, and with sadness, and sometimes with anger, she saw signs of more and more rapprochement between her son and the dowdy Sonya. She reproached herself for that, but could not help but grumble, find fault with Sonya, often stopping her for no reason, calling her "you" and "my dear". Most of all, the kind countess was angry with Sonya that this poor, black-eyed niece was so meek, so kind, so devotedly grateful to her benefactors, and so faithfully, invariably, with selflessness in love with Nicholas, that it was impossible to reproach her for anything. ...
Nikolai lived out his vacation time with his relatives. The 4th letter was received from the groom, Prince Andrey, from Rome, in which he wrote that he would have been on his way to Russia for a long time if his wound had not suddenly opened in a warm climate, which makes him postpone his departure until the beginning of next year ... Natasha was just as in love with her fiancé, just as reassured by this love, and just as receptive to all the joys of life; but at the end of the fourth month of separation from him, they began to find moments of sadness on her, against which she could not fight. She felt sorry for herself, it was a pity that she was so free, for no one, wasted all this time, during which she felt so able to love and be loved.
There was no joy in the Rostovs' house.
