Olga Korbut

Olga Korbut was a pigtailed teenager and not even five feet tall when she dazzled the world at the Munich Olympics in 1972, winning three gold medals and one silver medal in gymnastics. She performed a backflip on the uneven bars that became known as the “Korbut Flip,” and her radiant personality attracted millions to the sport.

Nicknamed the “Sparrow from Minsk” for her slender figure, Korbut earned two more medals at the 1976 Olympics. In 1988, she was the first inductee into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, and today is known as one of the sport’s greatest ambassadors.

Born in Belarus, Korbut and her family moved from Minsk to New Jersey in 1991, concerned about the long-term health effects of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in nearby Ukraine. (Belarus had been covered in a radioactive cloud from the 1986 disaster; Minsk lies approximately 200 miles northwest of Chernobyl.) Settling in the U.S., she worked to raise funds for the victims of Chernobyl.

Now living in Scottsdale, Arizona, Korbut has been working as a motivational speaker and mentoring a new generation of gymnasts as a coach.

“To be in the Olympics is good, but to truly compete is great,” she told CNN. “It takes courage and hard work to compete. Everybody is a winner, I couldn’t pick a best. Everyone who competes is great.”