Looks like Olga’s trying to get her life on track

And skating sure is a better way to do it than shoplifting and getting fired from coaching positions

Olga Korbut: grace, beauty and yarn in her hair.

From the moment her coach, Renald Knysh, raped her up until the last I’d heard, Olga Korbut had not had an easy life.  Among her hardships, including living for 36 years and counting in another gymnast’s shadow, are some alleged shoplifting incidents and being kicked out of American gyms as a coach because of her “tyrannical” teaching methods, quote gym moms.

Well, Dee sent a video a few days ago of Olga competing in something called “Dancing on Ice.”  I didn’t see Nasty’s name anywhere in the program, so I’m guessing it’s a show that managed to get off the ground without her backing.  Here, Olga is 57, and I was so happy to see everybody making such a big deal out of her, because she deserves it.

Don’t forget who Olga was

Olga meeting U.S. President Richard Nixon. Knysh put her in the shortest skirt.

Who cares about shoplifting and dealing with mothers of introverted tech-addicted gymnasts?  Olga put the sport of gymnastics on the map.  That’s right – OLGA, not Bart Comaneci’s wife.  Why do you think the arena in Montreal was jam-packed?  Not because of Nadia, because nobody even knew who she was.  It was because of the hysteria Olga had whipped up four years earlier in Munich.

It doesn’t matter who was a “better” gymnast, Nadia or Olga.  What matters is that Olga performed moves that were alarming and daring and dangerous.  Oh, yeah – and difficult.  That’s right, and some of her skills were sooooooo difficult, it is illegal to perform them in competitions today.  So let all these mannish modern-day warriors Code-whore their way up the difficulty ladder.  I’m waiting to see one of them get up there and do a blind standing backflip off the fucker.  Then I’ll concede modern “difficulty.”

Olga these days is a tough old bird who still retains her intense work ethic, as you’ll see in the video below.  She has always believed in doing her best, and she certainly did it in “Dancing on Ice.”  Everybody fell in love with her all over again, as it should be.  Olga didn’t have the good fortune that Nadia did, what with the way she [Nadia] won every heart on the planet and defected and ate a frozen potato or whatever and flew to America and had sex with her liberator and finally found a guy whose ass she could kick to marry.

No, Olga has had a tough life, and this video brought tears to my eyes – tears of happiness and respect for a woman who may just finally be getting comfortable with being Olga Korbut.

Wow!  If Olga needs money, she should hire herself out as a private contractor to work with U.S. national team members and teach them grace and beauty, because she showed more of that in this short performance than I’ve seen from every U.S. routine I’ve watched since Athens combined.

Okay, Sydney.

Okay, Atlanta.

Either way, thanks so much, Dee, for sending this.  I hope everybody enjoyed it.

Sarah!

PS: I’m sure Olga’s skating partner here is as queer as a three dollar bill, but who cares?  I would love to have him handle me like that, on ice or off it.  Anybody else feel the same?  (Only girls answer this, please.)

PSS: Here’s Olga breaking more ground.

Some of her best and worst.

And here’s a three-part Olga documentary in Russian with very rare footage of her training for the Olympics.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

All of you Flying Monkey and Aly the Jew fans who think the kizzie and the Kike invented gymnastics – you need to keep in mind that Olga was only doing what she was taught to do, just like today’s gymnasts.  She did the routines of the day, the ones her coaches and choreographers worked with her on.

Her stuff wasn’t always as difficult and complex as today’s routines, of course not.  But try to imagine if there was an Olga Korbut on one of today’s major teams.  THAT’S why you should respect her.