Olga Korbut is unfairly treated at London 2012
LONDON 2012 Olympic exchange of the week featured the great Belorussian gymnast Olga Korbut, as told by the Sunday Times’ Hugh McIlvanney:
Gabby Logan: “Olga, do you think it’s a golden age in gymnasics now?”
Olga Korbut: “No, this is era going down. We need to find a new Olga to change to grace…more passion, more smiles, more joy…This is why the world fell in love with me, because I smile from the heart.”
McIlvanney concludes: “Some smiles were sickly by that point.”
What she said was: “No, this is era going down. We need to find a new Olga to change to grace, and more beautiful gymnastics, more passion, more smile, more enjoy…”
Logan: “More personality…”
Korbut: “Yeah.”
Logan: “Do you think the smiles at the moment are masking fear?”
Korbut: “Yeah. This is why world fell in love with me because I smile from heart and they felt it.”
Korbut’s words were central to her argument that you cannot win with style and work hard if you don’t enjoy it. Korbut was speaking in broken English. McIlvanney says she “scored a perfect 10 for vaingloriousness”. No. She spoke like a footballer referring to themselves in the third person who was asked that stock question: to create a hierarchy between her epic achievements and the current crop. She gave an honest answer.
Posted: 5th, August 2012 | In: Sports Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
