Olga korbut when was she born

Olga Korbut had endeared herself to the crowd in the floor exercise and on the balance beam -- where she performed a backflip -- a move that was common in the floor exercise but had never been performed on the four-inch wide apparatus. So when Korbut stepped up to the uneven bars in the final in front of 11, people, there was an air of expectation even though a shot at a medal seemed out of reach.

As jaws dropped in the arena, she continued swinging onto the lower bar, using nothing but her momentum and her abdomen to perform one revolution around the bar before flying backwards to the upper bar, skilfully catching it with her arms behind her. Four years before Nadia Comaneci earned the first ever perfect 10 at the Olympics, Korbut came agonisingly close but the judges awarded her 9. She watched the gymnastics competitions in the North Greenwich Arena, providing commentary by way of Twitter and Facebook.

As well as historical artifacts, the exhibit featured the personal stories of 16 Olympic medalists, including Korbut. Korbut celebrated the 40th anniversary of her Olympic victories with an appearance at the exhibition on 3 August. She said "I didn't even expect this. I am so honored to be here. This was reportedly done to "to save her from hunger" though auction house spokesman Elon Werner and Korbut herself have strongly denied this claim.

Korbut, who has won four Olympic gold medals, is best known for her move, the "Korbut flip", a backflip performed on the uneven parallel bars, starting from a standing position on the high bar and then catching the same bar from below on the under swing.

Named after Korbut since she was the first to perform the skill at an international competition in , the move has since been made illegal in the Olympic Code of Points. About the meeting, Korbut said: "He told me that my performance in Munich did more for reducing the political tension during the Cold War between our two countries than the embassies were able to do in five years.

Prior to , the athletes were generally older and the focus was on elegance rather than acrobatics. In the decade after Korbut's Olympic debut, the emphasis was reversed. Korbut, in her , gold-medal Olympics, at 4 ft 11 in 1. Biography Lists News Also Viewed. Olga Korbut. The basics. The details from wikipedia. Early life Korbut was born in Grodno. Olympics At the Summer Olympics in Munich, Korbut's acrobatics and open high-level gymnastics brought her much fame.

Nevertheless, the young athlete was sent to represent her sports school at the city's gymnastics tournament. There, she caught the eye of celebrated Olympic champion and coach Elena Volchetskaya. Olga Korbut showed her brand-new backflip-to-catch on the uneven bars at the national championships in In the s the USSR national gymnastics team was going though a change of generations, with two athletes vying for each of six roster spots. Olga Korbut introduced her innovative gymnastic elements to become a favorite at the Munich Games.

However, she made a serious mistake performing on the uneven bars and lost to Lyudmila Turisheva in the all-around. Olga Korbut still managed to bring home three Olympic gold medals team, balance beam, floor and one silver uneven bars.