Olga Korbut: Winning Hearts

For someone who needed a teammate’s misfortune to even make the team in 1972, tiny Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut had little trouble snagging the sport’s spotlight and endearing herself to millions.

Korbut, 4 feet 11 inches (1.5 metres) tall and 85 pounds (38 kilograms), qualified as an alternate, but the need to replace an injured teammate catapulted her into competition during the Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany. She emerged as a star during the team events, becoming the first person ever to complete a backward somersault on the uneven parallel bars. Her captivating smile and adorable personality shattered the stereotype of the stone-faced, performance-driven Soviet athlete, making Korbut an instant fan favourite.

After helping the Soviet Union win the gold medal in the team competition, Korbut was favoured to upset teammate Lyudmila Turishcheva in the all-around individual competition, but disaster struck on the uneven bars. She scuffed her feet on the mat as she mounted, slipped off the bars attempting another move, and botched her remount. Her score was a mere 7.5, effectively eliminating her from the race for the all-around gold. What followed was a scene that was constantly replayed on television for days to come—Korbut weeping uncontrollably as she sat hunched over on the Soviet team’s bench.

The next day, in the individual apparatus competition, Korbut would avenge her struggles, winning gold medals for her performance on the balance beam and in the floor exercise and taking a silver medal for the uneven parallel bars. Korbut’s magical smile returned, and her emotional roller coaster of success, failure, and success epitomized the drama of the Games.

Surprisingly, Korbut became an idol in the United States and was invited to the White House in 1973. There, she recounts, Pres. Richard Nixon told her that she “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.” Korbut won a team gold medal again at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and picked up a silver medal for the balance beam. She retired in 1977.