Wherever I call, there is silence on the other end of the line. I leave messages on the answering machine - they don't call back. Neither Olga Korbut herself, nor her husband, Aleksey Voynich, nor the relatives of her ex-husband, Leonid Bortkevich, nor her son, Richard Bortkevich, nor her lawyer, Howard Weintraub, nor her manager, Kay Weatherford, nor even the sheriffs of Gwynneth County, answer. In short, nobody.
When, by a happy coincidence, you break through, the subscriber, as if scalded, hangs up, learning that the caller is a journalist.
Readers already know in general terms what happened, or rather, what happened to Olga Korbut. On January 31, Korbut, now 46, walked into a supermarket in Norcross, near Atlanta, Georgia, where she now lives. She took off the shelves, $ 19 35 cents worth of figs, gravies, tea, cheese and syrup. Olga put all this simple food in her bag and left. Here she was caught by the supermarket security. Olga tried to explain to the arriving policemen that there was a misunderstanding. She supposedly forgot her wallet in the car and was going to pick it up and pay off the bill. Nevertheless, Korbut was arrested. She was released on bail on the same day.
The trouble, as you know, does not walk alone. A few days after the incident, the name of Olga Korbut again flashed in the criminal chronicle. Secret Service - the US Secret Service - announced that it is investigating a case of counterfeit dollars found in a house in Daluth, Georgia, where Korbut recently lived.
Here's what the Secret Service reported: On December 5, the executors, not Secret Service agents, came to a house in Daluth, 25 miles from Atlanta. They weren't looking for counterfeit currency. Their goal was completely different - to hand over the eviction summons to the owner of the house, Korbut's ex-husband, Leonid Bortkevich. This mission was entrusted to Gwyneth County Sheriff's Assistant Tracy Gee. No one met the deputy sheriff. The house was empty. Then he, using his right, opened the door and entered the house. Everything in the house was turned upside down, complete chaos reigned. All electrical switches and sockets were pulled out of the walls, the stair railings were unscrewed, the kitchen was damaged, the glass in the windows was broken, the doors were twisted. According to the deputy sheriff, the reason for this vandalism was "the anger of the owner of the house that his house was taken away by the mortgage company." In the house, however, were found Olympic souvenirs Korbut. Her large portrait, almost full-length, lay on the side of the road. He was "sheltered" by Bortkevich's neighbors.
But in addition to traces of vandalism and Olympic tinsel, the sheriff's deputy found something more curious in an abandoned house on his top floor: several computers and stacks of $ 100 bills in plastic bags. It was initially reported that $ 4,000 had been found. As it turns out now, there were 30 thousand of them. The dollars turned out to be fake.
The house where Olga Korbut once lived was located in a prosperous area. It was decorated with columns. The house had a swimming pool. Despite the defeat, it was felt throughout everything that once lived well here. Olga left the house in Dalut in 2000, when she separated from Bortkevich. According to documents, they bought a colonial-style Dalut house in 1993 for $ 160,000. The house was sold in September 2000. But a month later, Bortkevich borrowed $ 240,000 for it and became its sole owner. Olga remarried to Alexei Voynich, and Bortkevich suddenly disappeared not only from his home, but also from the United States. Neighbors last saw him a few weeks before the start of the counterfeit banknote investigation. The press reports that Bortkevich may have returned “to his native Belarus”. The last occupant of the house was Richard Bortkevich, the 22-year-old son of Olga and Leonid. Where he is and what he is is still unknown.
Olga Korbut's only comment on the counterfeit dollar case was made by her manager, Ms. Kay Weatherford. She stated: “Miss Korbut found herself in a web of absurd misunderstandings. She believes that her reputation is unfairly tarnished. She has nothing to do with it. She has heartache. "
This is the current criminal outline of the Olga Korbut case. The data available so far do not allow any conclusions to be drawn as to whether this case is really Olga's case. I mean both a petty theft in a supermarket and a major incident with large counterfeit bills. The business (again, business!) Of the court is to establish whether Olga hid the figs and tea or accidentally grabbed them, and most importantly, did she know about what her husband and son were doing? But this, I repeat, is a criminal canvas. The heartache that Olga naturally experiences in connection with this is understandable. But I would like to say about the deeper heartache of the great gymnast.
There is some evil irony in the fact that Olga Korbut was accused of stealing food products, and for a meager amount. Once, Olga did not pay for food at all, even if the wallet was with her and even if she tried to do it. Who could take the money from this magical fairy gymnast, this 17-year-old Olympic sorceress who won three gold medals at the Munich Games in 1972 and cried like a child, who she really was, because she did not get even the fourth “Gold” - for all-around? Perhaps it was the crying Olga, and not Olga on the shells, who conquered millions, hundreds of millions of hearts. Not only sports fans, but just people. Once Mayakovsky wrote that a crying Bolshevik should have been shown as a curiosity - in a museum. So Olga was the first Soviet gymnast who burst into tears in front of a world audience. And the whole world suddenly realized that our girls - they are girls in flesh and blood, and not mechanical dolls put on by "communist trainers", so to speak, totalitarian Karabas-Barabas.
American Burt Conner, gold medalist at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, says: “We thought that all athletes from the Soviet Union were machines devoid of emotion. But suddenly she appeared, this little vulnerable girl. And everyone wanted to hug her, to take a sip of her. " Burt is not exaggerating in the least. Olga Korbut has indeed become a revelation for the West, especially for the United States. Here, like mushrooms after the rain, clubs named after Olga Korbut began to appear. Not sports, but simply, because her fame has outgrown sports, and she herself has become a "celebrity", that is, a celebrity with the power of attraction, no longer dependent on gymnastics. Of course, sports were at the heart of this resounding popularity. Korbut was not only a pioneer with a red tie around her neck, but also a pioneer in gymnastics.
Love filled the hearts of people. Shopkeepers refused to take money from her, like the Beatles or royals in England, even if the bill was well over the measly $ 19 and 35 cents. No one, including the American Secret Service, doubted the authenticity of her gold medals and heart.
But, making breathtaking dismounts from the shells that took your breath away, and landing accurately, showing miracles of balancing, opening her hands to everyone with a victorious smile, Olga Korbut was not able to jump off magic gymnastics into real life just as deftly. The sense of balance left her, the smile left her face, and her open arms met emptiness. The touching motive of her life became melancholy and sad. Her medals still glittered, but her fate faded. It was the fault of the time, the fault of the regime. And her own. It seems to me symbolic that in the then Belarus Olga lived near Chernobyl. The tragedy of Chernobyl drove Olga to the West, or, in any case, gave an impetus, served as a springboard for a jump into the unknown. In addition, her health was poor. She felt unwell, got tired quickly, complained of the thyroid gland.
In 1991 Olga Korbut left Minsk and settled in New Jersey. Her wanderings across America, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, began - and everywhere she was followed by the fumes and radiation of Chernobyl, like a shadow of the past. Olga worried not only about her health, but also about the fate of children exposed to radiation. So she founded her own foundation in Seattle at the Hutginson Cancer Research Center.
But while helping others, Olga was unable to help herself. Glory is not only wings behind your back, but also a heavy burden on the same back, especially if it suddenly fell on your head, and you yourself are still a child. After the Munich triumph, she traveled to many countries. All her performances were sold out. People stopped buses and cars just to ask Olga for an autograph. Sometimes she had to escape from annoying admirers, pulling on a wig and a wide-brimmed hat. Olga's mail was like Niagara. A special person was hired to handle her.
But all this soon became a thing of the past. America's love is changeable, like the heart of a beauty and the wind of May in the Duke's aria from Verdi's opera Rigoletto. Love in America quickly disappears if it is not fueled by commercial publicity, if you are not an alchemist who knows how to turn gold medals into green dollars. Korbut did not succeed. Contrary to the fairy tale, it was not Cinderella who became a princess, but a princess - Cinderella. The great gymnast became an average coach. The dream of creating your own school has remained a dream. I had to roam in other people's gyms. Olga began to drink. According to David Day, owner of the Jim Eli Gym in Norcross, he had to give up Korbut's services because of her heavy drinking. V Lately Korbut worked as a coach in a shabby gym in the town of Dunwoody, which was an appendage of the judo school. Olga's personal life did not work out either.
Leaping from the shell of Soviet life to the American mat always fraught with hidden threats. The totalitarian Karabas-Barabas took care of its dolls in its own way. He was strict with them, but he fed them. He saved them from worries and, first of all, from the most important thing - to think. Democratic Karabas-Barabas allows you to think, but refuses to feed them for free. I absolutely agree with International Gymnast magazine publisher Paul Zirt, who says: “I think Olga's life was very difficult. In my opinion, this is mainly rooted in the mentality of the athletes who came from the former Soviet Union. As young people, they worked hard in the hope that life would take care of them in the future. But we don't have free meals here. ” There is no free drink either. And of the teetotal gymnasts, few got rich in America.
Over time, Olga managed to defeat the green snake. But she never got more green bucks. Real, not fake. True, the same David Day sometimes invited her to competitions called "Olga Korbut Classic" as a "planted mother" and even paid for it. Olga remarried. She seemed to start scrambling out. And suddenly...
The phones are still silent. Olga Korbut's drama continues.
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In the last year, they began to write about Olga in connection with a new marriage and the birth of a son to her ex-husband - "songwriter" Leonid Bortkevich. Like, Olga herself married a computer scientist from Belarus named Alexey. However, Alexey turned out to be not a computer scientist at all, and all the other horror stories about Korbut are not so scary. Because, as it turned out, during the unpleasant events of recent years, there was a loved one next to Olga.
It took some time to believe that Alexey was not a computer scientist. During our conversation, every now and then he grabbed the mouse and climbed into the network: for the weather in the state of Arizona, in order to show that there are two words about Olga on the Russian search engine Rambler, and on the English-language Google there is a sea of information, for photos of pets: Pitty cats and a guinea pig named Piggy.
The conversation might not have taken place, but on that very day, May 16, an article was published in Moskovsky Komsomolets dedicated to the miracle with pigtails, which turned 50 on that day.
Just read! Almost everything is not true!
Well, well, even if it's not true, - our acquaintance began with a discussion, - But how to find out the truth !?
Word for word, the argument worked, a conversation ensued.
- It turns out that you are not a geek?
No, of course, and never was. But he really did take pizza. In 1999, when I came to America, I did not know the language, did not have the usual status, acquaintances and connections. There are quite a few jobs that hire the "dumb, deaf and illiterate". Miraculously got a job as a pizza delivery man. For the sake of additional income, many Americans deliver pizza, and this is not so prestigious.
- And how much can you earn?
Pizza delivery men don't have a salary, they earn by tips. A year later, I developed a whole system of how to get a big tip. First, you need to be able to drive quickly and without fines. I learned short drives along parallel streets where there was less traffic, and I got to the client faster than others. This is important because a person waiting for pizza is usually hungry. Secondly, your appearance is important: you need to drive up to the house quickly, but not abruptly. Park your car straight ahead. Thirdly, it is a little theatrical to carry the goods carefully and carefully. Never cut the corners of the paths or step on the grass. One of my regular customers once paid a $ 100 tip for a $ 9.99 pizza delivery. Oh yes. And I drove a new car and washed it every morning.
A year later, I learned the language and came as a simple stocker (an employee who labels goods) to one of the Wal-Mart stores. And a year later he became an assistant manager: 350 subordinates. Then he dropped everything and began to engage in Olga's company and his own projects in the real estate market.
An acquaintance from the guinea pig website invited me to work in Moscow
- How did you get an invitation to work from a reputable Moscow company?
My current leader, like me, is a big fan of guinea pigs. When my pig died, I was terribly saddened and rushed around the new little pig like a brooding hen, reacting to every breath and sneeze. And Sergei is an experienced pig breeder. He helped me a lot with advice. Then he asked what I was doing in Arizona. I replied that it was marketing. "O! He exclaimed. I also! In what area? " “In real estate,” I answer. And when, after a typhoon in Southeast Asia, the top manager of this company disappeared, Sergei called me to take his place: "Would you, dear, work for big money in Moscow?" Well, if for a lot of money, and even temporarily, why not.
This is how I live now: work is here, my wife is there. But every day we talk on the phone for a long time, fortunately, the technology of Internet telephony allows us to have an ordinary American phone in a Moscow apartment with a local Arizona number.
- But if your projects in America brought good money, what are you doing in Moscow?
Ha! Business in Moscow is much more interesting. I am the third person in a company that is a market leader. 5500 employees. Well, to be completely honest, I work on Olga's projects at night, because Russia and America are in different hemispheres. When it's day there, it's night here. So everything works out.
- Did you study in Moscow?
At the State University of Management. And I also studied in Minsk at the Faculty of Journalism. I gave it up. Then - at the Faculty of Psychology at the Pedagogical University. After four courses, I also dropped out. If not for my mother, I would not have enrolled at all. The main thing is to understand the essence of the ongoing processes. And with this understanding, you can do business.
- Did you have to work in your first specialty?
Not for long. In one of the youth publications I worked as a photographer, wrote only in Belarusian. Then, in the late 80s, if you remember, it was very fashionable.
Before Olga, I had no adult relationships with girls.
- How did you meet Olga?
O! That was a long time ago. I was 17 then (now Alexei is 34 - ed.). Together with my fellow journalist, who interviewed Bortkevich, I came to their house and was stunned: Olya was so small, thin - a miniature. I have never met such women on the streets. And these are exactly what I like. Imagine what happened to me when I was 17, especially since I have never had any experience of adult relationships with any of the girls.
- And how did your relationship develop?
Stormy. But then Olga, for some reason, did not want to get divorced. Richard was still small, and Olga was 34, and for some reason our age difference was felt more than now. And then in 1994 we quarreled and made it up already in 1999.
- How did you manage to hide your relationship from Bortkevich?
At that time, he had an affair with another girl, so there were no particular scandals. We stayed on good terms with Bortkevich and often talk on the phone. Besides, his son is now mine.
- You said that you came in 1999. It seems that this was the year Olga got divorced?
Yes, when I arrived, the marriage was gone.
- Why did they get divorced?
Well, why do people get divorced, their marriage has run its course.
- She called you?
Yes, she felt bad.
- Did you think for a long time whether to go or not?
No, I decided right away, immediately got ready and came. Moreover, at that time in Belarus it was already very bad, investments practically stopped, the risks increased too ....
- Did you get married right away?
Richard photocopied dollars to surprise the girls
Alexey, it would be wrong if I did not ask you about Olga's son, Richard. What is this dark story with supposedly fake dollars, which he printed right in the house on a color copier? After all, none of the participants in that scandal ever explained what was true and what was fiction, and why, after his son, Korbut herself was detained in a supermarket? Only one thing is known: Richard is in prison.
Yes, an unpleasant situation. Rika decided to surprise the girls in the club with a big wad of money. I photocopied a hundred dollar bill. I copied for a long time, but I could not make the image match on both sides. As a result, he threw the drafts under the bed and forgot. Well, what a normal person would take a photocopy to a store! Moreover, the top image in those dollars did not match the bottom one.
At this point, Richard was living alone in an old house in Atlanta. After Olga's divorce, the house went to her ex-spouse, and Bortkevich left for Belarus, Mulyavin called him to Pesnyary again. We did not pay for the house, since it did not belong to us, all bank documents were reissued to Bortkevich. We took out a loan and bought ourselves another home.
A paper came from the bank: they say, either pay or give the house. Richard moved out immediately. All the deadlines passed, and the bank took over the house, and there they found these photocopies of dollars. And when they also found regalia and cups in the house Olympic champion Olga Korbut, the case seemed even more attractive. But in America, as you know, there is a presumption of innocence: you cannot take fingerprints from an honest person who was not involved in any dirty dealings. Therefore, the police watched Olga in the supermarket: they say, excuse me, let's go through, we saw how you put a can of ketchup in your purse. They took her away and legally removed her "fingers". We compared them with prints on photocopies of dollars - it didn’t come together. And all the charges against Olga fell apart.
We were already going to leave the state, looked after a new house, but at that moment one of the local journalists became aware of the fact of the arrest of a world gymnastics star in a supermarket. What started! He wrote an article. Everyone else began to reprint it! They began to call and ask questions. It was a nightmare! All journalists concluded that Olga was not detained in vain, but for theft, and released because they regretted it. Many wrote that Korbut was begging in America, that she was a kleptomaniac. It was an incredible, monstrous campaign against Olga. Since then, Olga stopped communicating with the press at all.
- Is that why you moved from Atlanta?
Not certainly in that way. It's cold in Atlanta, even snowing in winter. Temperature 0, 5, 7 degrees. And we were looking for a warm place. Olga, like me, loves warmth. Even in the summer, when going to the store, she takes a jacket with her - after all, there are strong air conditioners in the stores.
We already looked for a house in California, but then I ended up in the neighboring state of Arizona for work. And I liked it there right away. This is an amazing place: dry hot climate, mountains, giant cacti and green desert, the Grand Canyon. Snow lies a hundred miles away in winter, and the warm waters of the Gulf of California two hundred miles away (this is already the territory of Mexico, but the resort area is called "the beach of Arizona"). There are very few emigrants here. Until air conditioning was invented, it was not popular. Now the Americans are coming from all directions. After all, it is just paradise here: in January it is 20-27 warm with 5-15% humidity. We arrived and immediately fell in love with this paradise. I rented an apartment, rented a truck, loaded my family and drove for three days towards my dream.
- Olga was very worried about her son?
Well, what are you talking about! An only child. Many star children get "star fever", grow up selfish, turn into drunkards and drug addicts. Richard is a very enthusiastic, talented guy who never even tried a cigarette in his entire life and drank only one glass of champagne, and even then nominally, on the day of majority (21 years old).
Olga also moved to America because of her son. After Chernobyl, she was scared for the child and found an opportunity to send Richard to the States. Six months later, it became clear that the son was much better there, and it was unbearable to live separately from the child. Then an offer turned up to work as a coach in New Jersey, then in Atlanta….
In the next issue of "bbw" read the interview with Olga Korbut and the continuation of the interview with Alexei Voynich.
The son of the famous Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut, now living in the United States, was found guilty of forging money. He is charged with making counterfeit bills in the amount of 20 thousand dollars. 23-year-old Richard Bortkevich was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for making counterfeit bills worth 20 thousand dollars and will serve a term in a federal correctional institution, ITAR-TASS reports.
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In addition, he has to pay almost five thousand dollars to two shops where he paid for fakes. According to local laws, Bortkevich could well be isolated from society for seven years.
The son of the famous gymnast admitted that for three months, using computer technology, he was engaged in counterfeiting money.
The counterfeit currency was discovered in connection with the ongoing eviction case for Korbut and her husband from their home due to delays in payments on real estate. When the sheriff's deputy came to the house of Korbut and Bortkevich to hand over the eviction papers, he saw "a large number" of counterfeit $ 100 bills scattered on the floor.
Currency was also stuffed into a plastic bag lying near the computers. In total, about 4 thousand counterfeit dollars were found in the house.
Olga Korbut is a renowned Russian gymnast, Honored Master of Sports. In 1970 she won the title of champion of the USSR and the world. Three-time winner of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
In 1991 she moved to Atlanta, where she took up coaching. Until recently, she lived in Georgia and recently moved to Atlanta. Her ex-husband Leonid Bortkevich returned to Belarus after the divorce.
In January of this year, Korbut was arrested for stealing from a supermarket. However, then the Georgian authorities released her, fining $ 333 and punishing her to attend psychological rehabilitation courses. In addition, the gymnast was banned from appearing in the Pablix stores.
According to Kommersant, Korbut did not deign to attend the court session, but she sent her son a telegram with words of support.
www.kp.ru
Olga Korbut was born on May 16, 1955 in Grodno (Belarus). Four-time Olympic champion. One of the most difficult elements is called the "loop Korbut».
www.kp.by
In the last year about Olga began to write in connection with a new marriage and the birth of a son from her ex-husband - "songwriter" Leonid Bortkevich. Like, herself Olga married a computer technician from Belarus named Alexei.
kompravda.eu
Olga called Alexey Voynich to America when she was really bad.
site
olga korbut alex voynich... : Alexey Voynich, husband of the legendary Olympic gymnastics champion ... kp.ru. We talked with Olga and Alexei, and the horror stories about the great athlete seemed not so scary.
www.mk.ru
Do not answer either myself Olga Korbut nor her husband, Alexei Voynich nor the relatives of her ex-husband, Leonid Bortkiewicz, nor her son, Richard Bortkiewicz, nor her lawyer, Howard Weintraub, nor her manager, Kay Weatherford, nor even the sheriffs of Gwyneth County.
fakty.ua
"Miracle with pigtails", "favorite of the public", "Russian sparrow" - so affectionately and affectionately called Olga Korbut her fans.
www.eg.ru
Natalia Rudova, Alexei and Andrey Chadovy, Nastasya Samburskaya, Elena ... Dima Bilan's gastronomic shopping.
vk.com
Olga Korbut, Kiev, Ukraine. Graduated from KEIM (Ekomen) in 2008. Log in or sign up to contact Olga Korbut or find more of your friends.
www.youtube.com
Alex Voinich.
litfile.net
Olga married a Belarusian Alexey Voynich, who is nineteen years younger than her, and has been in love since he, seventeen, first saw thirty-six Korbut.
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We are not responsible for the damage caused that the user could receive for visiting third-party sites.In Dallas (Texas), the two-day Platinum Night auction ended, the main lots of which experts named the medals of the famous Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut: Olympic Games 1972 in Munich and 1976 in Montreal. In total, 32 lots were presented, including Korbut order books, honorary awards of international sports organizations, a statuette marking inclusion in the Gymnastics Hall of Fame, a USSR master of sports badge awarded to her in 1970, a windbreaker of the USSR national team, the first American passport received in 2000 year:
and a swimsuit, in which she performed as part of the USSR national team at competitions in London in 1973:
For people of my generation, the name of the four-time Olympic champion Korbut is still fanned by the glory of the distant 70s. She was born in the city of Grodno, Byelorussian SSR in 1955. Already at the age of 17, she became a legend of gymnastics, making a real revolution in this sport and raising its popularity to unprecedented heights. Despite the Cold War, even in the United States, its fan clubs were opened, and thousands of girls around the world went to this most difficult sport, dreaming of becoming “like Korbut”.
At a very young age, she performed the famous element named in her honor "Korbut loop" - a combination invented together with trainer Renald Knysh, which, besides her, could only be repeated by one gymnast - Elena Mukhina (who later received a severe spinal injury and ended up confined to a wheelchair). When performing the "loop", the athlete stood on the upper part of uneven bars and jumped back, clinging to the upper bar with her hands, after which she grabbed the lower bars with her legs at speed and turned around them without using her hands.
Currently, the Korbut loop cannot be seen in official competitions, as gymnasts are strictly forbidden to stand with their feet on the upper bars due to the excessive danger of the performed combination. Also in the history of sports were such elements as "Korbut somersault" on a balance beam and "Korbut flick-flak" - a jump back from two feet.
In 1978, Olga married a famous musician, lead singer of the Pesnyary group Leonid Bortkevich, gave birth to a son, Richard, and after the collapse of the USSR with her family she emigrated to the United States.
Apparently, the life of an outstanding ex-athlete overseas was not easy: she tried to do coaching, participated in various shows, but she could not achieve systematic employment. I recall a similar story told to me during an interview in the early 2000s by the famous Oksana Baiul, a Ukrainian single skater, world champion in 1993 and the 1994 Olympics, who also after sporting success moved to America, where, unfortunately, she could not find a stable work and once, in a state of alcoholic intoxication, provoked a car accident, was put on trial, was forced to undergo rehabilitation from alcohol addiction ...
Olga Korbut broke up with her husband in 1999 and lost her home in Atlanta due to gigantic utility bills. Bortkevich returned to Belarus, got married and still continues his singing career in his homeland. And Olga in 2000 received a passport of a US citizen and played a wedding with the Belarusian Aleksey Voynich, who is 17 years younger than her. And two years later, the world gymnastics star struck the world when he was caught stealing food in an Atlanta supermarket - cheese, a pack of tea, a bottle of chocolate syrup, figs and peppers worth ... $ 19. At that time, thanks to her former glory, Korbut got off with a fine, but just a couple of months later, her 22-year-old son Richard, who was arrested for making counterfeit money, ended up in prison with her in America. The guy was imprisoned for 3.5 years instead of 7 and was deported to Belarus. And Olga seems to have found a coach job in an expensive sports school in the USA (according to other sources, she began to teach fitness at a sports club). In rare interviews with compatriots, she expressed a desire to return to Russia or Belarus, but did not advance in this direction further than talking.
And now, like a snow on his head - a message about the auction at which Olga Korbut sells rarities that she kept since the beautiful history of the "miracle with pigtails" (as the sports superstar in the early 70s was nicknamed by journalists).
The result of the auction: only an insignificant part of the lots went to the total amount of $ 230 thousand, however, Korbut, taking into account the payment of commissions in favor of the auction house, will receive $ 183.3 thousand. So, the gold of the 1972 Olympics in team standings pulled in online auctions for $ 66 thousand, being the most valuable trophy in the Korbut collection. The gymnast won this award together with Lyubov Burda, Tamara Lazakovich, Antonina Koshel, Elvira Saadi and Lyudmila Turischeva. gold medal the same Olympic Games for floor exercise went to auction for $ 52.8 thousand, and silver on the uneven bars - for $ 24.6 thousand.For the team gold of Montreal-1976, an anonymous buyer laid out $ 57.6 thousand, for silver on a balance beam - $ 24, 6 thousand. In addition to medals, the Korbut leotard, in which she performed in London in 1973 ($ 3 thousand), and her autograph on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine ($ 49), went under the hammer.
Another 26 lots have not yet acquired new owners. Among them - the last of the Munich awards (gold on a balance beam), as well as two medals of the same value, won at the 1974 World Championships in Varna, and four silver medals from the same tournament. The badge of the master of sports of the USSR also turned out to be unsold. Other unclaimed rarities include a Gymnastics Hall of Fame statuette, a Man of the Year 1972 award from the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC, and the first passport of a US citizen.
Olga Korbut, now living in Phoenix (Arizona), has not yet commented on the auction story for the press.
Simonova Inna Anatolievna, Cand. history. Sci., member of the SP of Russia, member of the Union of Journalists of Moscow
