What was gymnast Olga Corbitt famous for, and what is she doing now?
Olga Valentinovna Korbut (b. May 16, 1955 in Hrodna), also known as the Sparrow from Minsk, is a Belarusian, Soviet-born gymnast who won four gold medals and two silver medals at the Summer Olympics, in which she competed in 1972 and 1976 for the USSR team. Early life Korbut, who started training at age 8, entered a Belarusian sports school headed by coach Renald Knysh at age 11. There, Korbut’s first trainer was Elena Volchetskaya (an Olympian), but she was moved to Knysh’s group a year later. With him, she learned a difficult backward somersault on the balance beam. She ended fifth at her first competition in the 1969 USSR championships. The next year, she won a gold medal in the vault. Due to illness and injury, she was unable to compete in many of the tournaments prior to the 1972 Olympics. [edit] The Olympics At the 1972 Olympics, her acrobatics and open display of emotion—notably, she wiped tears from her face after a disastrous uneven bars routine—in contrast to the stereotypica
