Olga Korbut: The Gymnastics Icon Who Defied Gravity

Olga Korbut, a name synonymous with grace, daring, and a revolutionary spirit in the world of gymnastics, captivated audiences worldwide during the 1972 Munich Olympics. More. Olga Korbut calls her former coach a monster. In part five of our documentary series, survivors of abuse describe the culture that allowed a USA Gymnastics physician and. I’ve been really struck by Olga Korbut while watching Defying Gravity. While I’m an obsessive consumer of current gymnastics news, I don’t have as much historical knowledge, so I knew her by name only. Olga Korbut (born May 16, 1955, Grodno, Belorussia, U.S.S.R. [now Hrodna, Belarus]) is a Soviet gymnast who won three gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games in. Forty years ago, at the Munich Olympics, Olga Korbut became the first female pixie star of women's gymnastics. With a slight build and yarn-tied pigtails that belied her 17 years,.

Born in the Belarussian city of Grodno, Korbut was a pixie with pigtails who at age 17 dazzled the world with gymnastics routines that revolutionized the sport and turned her into. The web site “Gymnastics Academy” writes that “ . . . her back flip on the beam and UB were heart-stopping, and she was a master at manipulating the crowd, selecting her floor music for maximum emotional impact in. Olga Korbut, a name synonymous with grace, daring, and a revolutionary spirit in the world of gymnastics, captivated audiences worldwide during the 1972 Munich Olympics. More. Here are five women who have done exactly that in gymnastics. At the Munich 1972 Olympic Games, 17-year-old Olga Korbut captivated the world with her daring acrobatics. She is single-handedly responsible for the frenzied explosion in popularity and growth that has defined gymnastics since she marched out from behind the Iron Curtain in 1972 to kick it into an entirely different stratosphere!