Gymnastics is considered to be a spectacular and aesthetically beautiful sport. However, it also has another side - it is the risk and danger accompanying athletes. The famous element on the uneven bars - Olga Korbut's loop - became a sensation in the world of gymnastics, but very soon it was banned for execution.
Who is Olga Korbut
The world famous Soviet gymnast Olga Valentinovna Korbut was born on May 16, 1955 in the city of Grodno, Belarus. At the age of 8, the girl began to engage in artistic gymnastics, and she made such a decision on her own. Since 1963, Olga attended the section of the coach Yaroslav Korol.
Interestingly, at that time the girl looked rather plump for gymnastics, and the first coaches did not seriously consider Olga as a successful gymnast. We were reluctant to work with her. However, by the will of fate, after two years of training, young Korba ended up in the group of the legendary artistic gymnastics coach Renald Knysh. It was this specialist who was able to discern hidden talent in a well-fed girl.
The young athlete turned out to be very hardworking and thought only about the correct execution of gymnastic elements. Olga Korbut's first steps in artistic gymnastics and a tangible achievement happened in 1970, when the 15-year-old athlete won the USSR championship in the vault. After this progress, the gymnast's coaches enrolled her in the national team.
Olga Korbut's awards and achievements
Olga Korbut has received many awards and titles during her career. Here is some of them:
- Honored Master of Sports of the Soviet Union;
- multiple champion of the USSR;
- absolute champion of the Soviet Union in 1975;
- world champion in the team championship in 1970;
- winner of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in 1975;
- world champion in vault and team competition in 1974;
- three-time Olympic champion in 1972 in disciplines: beam, team championship, floor exercise;
- champion of the 1976 Olympic Games in the team championship.
How did the “Korbut loop” element appear and when was it first performed?
The world-famous gymnastic element, which was named after the sportswoman, appeared during Korbut's training. The girl had fun on the uneven bars in between classes and randomly performed a unique trick. Her trainer Renald Knysh managed to notice this and, together with Olga, began to work out the loop, which later received the name Korbut.
The element performed by Olga, "Loop Korbut", generally looked like this. The execution of a unique element begins on the upper crossbar of uneven beams. The gymnast stands on it with her feet and flies into the air, performing a backflip, then returns to the upper crossbar, clinging to it with her hands.
Olga performed a unique trick so completely that it seemed that the law of gravity was not acting on her. It should be noted that during her sports career, the girl weighed only 39 kg with a height of 152 cm. It took the gymnast almost 5 years of training to thoroughly work out a dangerous and extremely difficult element.
The first performance of the Korbut loop at official competitions happened at the USSR championship in 1970. The young then unknown athlete made a huge impression on the audience.
But a real world sensation awaited Olga at the next Olympics in Munich. In 1972, both the press and the audience were overwhelmed with delight when a young Soviet gymnast with trademark pigtails performed a new unique element in her program on the uneven bars. The international media did not skimp on flattering epithets to Olga Korbut, who, after a phenomenal element, became an Olympic champion.
The following year, the Soviet gymnast was awarded the title of the best sportswoman in the world. Olga Korbut's noose left no one indifferent.
What does Loop Korbut look like?
The loop is performed only on a pair of crossbars of different heights. At the end of the previous element, the athlete comes to the upper crossbar, stands on it with her feet and pushes herself off, taking off into the air and doing a back somersault, that is, a jump over herself backwards.
After completing a coup in the air, the gymnast again comes to the same crossbar, from which she just came off. As a result of the resulting acceleration and under the weight of her body, the girl rotates clockwise, flying along the crossbar.
Then the girl's body meets on its way with a low crossbar just below the waist, in the hips. At the same time, the gymnast begins to rotate with her legs and arms around the low axis, gracefully releasing the upper bar with her hands.
Thus, having completed a full turn, the girl springs her back from the lower crossbar that begins to bend. As a result of this movement, it takes off in the air and is quickly intercepted by the hands already by the upper crossbar. At the end of such a complex figure, the gymnast performs a graceful dismount on the mats.
Why was the execution of "Loop Korbut" banned?
Performing dangerous stunts significantly increases the likelihood of serious injury in an already unsafe sport. Therefore, the removal of this element from the artistic gymnastics program was only a matter of time, especially after another Soviet gymnast, Elena Mukhina, improved the risky element by adding a screw to it.
Unfortunately, sports officials only made the obvious decision after the tragedy. The reason for the ban was very serious - a serious injury to the athlete. In July 1980, Elena Mukhina, while preparing for the 1980 home Olympic Games, unsuccessfully performed the Korbut Loop and landed on the floor, hitting her head hard. The result of such a fall was a broken spine. Elena Mukhina was bedridden for 26 years, severely limited in movement.
In an effort to get as many points for performances as possible in competitions, athletes often come up with complex and spectacular elements, thereby increasing the risk of injury in dangerous artistic gymnastics. To avoid further serious injury to the gymnasts, the unique Korbut loop element has been banned in the official artistic gymnastics rules.
As such, this trick can no longer be seen in any official competition. However, despite such a ban, the author of the risky element forever imprinted her name in the history of sports.
