For several years, Olga Korbut has been accusing her former coach Renald Knysh of molesting, raping and beating her. Knysh categorically denied the accusations and for year Korbut’s been accused of lying and attention-seeking by the media. Four more ex-gymnasts came forward confirming Korbut’s story and claiming that Knysh molested or harassed them and their teammates. This is in addition to the gymnast whose parents went to the police in 1981 accusing Knysh of raping his daughter. Belorussian radio “Freedom” published interviews with the gymnasts yesterday, on the eve of Olga Korbut’s birthday. The victims said they did not want to come forward but couldn’t stand seeing how Korbut was accused of lying even though they could confirm everything.
Galina Chesnovskaya, an ex-gymnast and later a gymnastics coach, says about Knysh: “I thought I will never see the day when everyone will know. He was a scumbag, he tortured us. I thought: will he never be held responsible for his horrible actions?”
Galina Karchevskaya, another ex-gymnast, trained with Knysh from 1958 to 1966. She told how Knysh often gave the girls a ride home after late practices (at the time almost no one had cars in USSR, especially in a small town) but there was a catch:
“Imagine, he had a Volga (car). We were maybe in the seventh grade. I was around 14 years old. You come to a practice at 6 pm and he’ll keep you till 10:30 pm. Then showers – it’s 11 pm already. You’re going home, he – “go to the car, I’ll give you a ride”. And the last one to leave the car… I lived on the outskirts of the town. He’s letting one girl out, another, then he’s taking me home. The touching starts. Of course, I’m fighting him with my hands and legs, I was physically very strong, I grew up with older brothers, I’ve always felt protected. He’s taking me further, into the forest, it was right outside the town. It’s almost midnight! The car stops, I jump out into the forest. He’s turning around and leaving. And I was terribly afraid of the dark when I was a child! Darkness, night, forest, I’m walking, I’m all shivering. He comes back in about 20 minutes, says: “Come in, [there will be] the barbell”. I had to lift the barbell for months after that [as a punishment].
Karchevskaya trained together with her friend, Liudmila Ryabkova. She says that after the incident, Knysh retaliated and made her do exhausting and unnecessary extra conditioning while her teammates didn’t have to do any of that:
“I weighed perhaps 40 kilos. [He made me do] five hundred barbell lifts! 500! You take it, put on your shoulders, lift it up then put on the shoulders again, then put it down and jump up – “point the toes!” Five hundred! And I was doing it all practice long! For weeks! While Ryabkova was doing v-ups. Tell me, did he want [athletic] results or he wanted a total power over you? Total submission?”
Karchevskaya says that sometimes when Knysh gave her rides and she saw him getting close to the forest, she jumped out of the running car.
Liudmila Ryabkova claims that many more gymnasts were abused: “He abused everyone, for sure. I started training at 12 years old, I came to gymnastics late. He started abusing me when I was 15. I was all shaking when I was the last one in the car. You come home, mom asks: “What happened? Did you get injured?” I’m replying: “No, I’m just tired”. If my parents learned about it, my father, a military officer, would definitely shoot him”.
Raybkova also said that Knysh often brought sex toys from his trips abroad in the 60s (such toys weren’t sold in USSR at the time). In 1964, he brought sex toys from Tokyo and demonstrated them to the girls he was coaching.
Ryabkova and Karchevskaya said that Knysh usually tried being affectionate towards the gymnasts but when his inappropriate touching was met with resistance, he became aggressive. The women didn’t go into many details, saying they were ashamed to talk about it, but mentioned the coach touching their thighs and breasts and said there was more. In addition, they say they were constantly harrassed verbally, with Knysh using foul language and sexual jokes.
Ryabkova stopped doing gymnastics after an incident when Knysh drove her outside the town and threatened to kill her: “I’ll tell you about the incident after which I stopped doing gymnasts. He called me late at night, I lived with my parents then. He said in an angry voice: “Come out, we need to talk”. I got scared, but we were obedient, it was our coach. I climbed into his car, he drove me very fast somewhere on the border with Lithuania. He started touching me, I was fighting him with my elbows. He says: “I can do anything to you right now, I can bring you to any road, drop you off into Neman [river], no one will know”. Then he angrily started driving back fast. He stopped suddenly and pushed me out of the car. I fell down, he drove away. I was walking on the road and crying. A big bus from Lithuania was passing through, the driver said: “Girl, come up, just don’t cry”. I boarded the bus, stood near the doors with my back to everyone and cried”.
Karchevskaya says she’s sure that everyone knew what was happening with Knysh and his gymnasts and supposes that Knysh also had sex with other gymnasts who were still in high school.
She says she was ashamed to tell any of the adults at the time although she told her brother once: “It was shameful to talk about such things. Once I told my older brother that [Knysh] was harrassing me. He just came to the gym and sat there. I was used to always be protected. And then, when you dedicated so many years to gymnastics, you like the sport. What does a child need? To go to a competition! I went to Minsk for the first time, on a train. It’s interesting! It’s worth tolerating [the abuse]. Moscow, Luzhniki, CSKA, training in the same gym as Latynina. How do you give it all up and just go to school as usual? That’s why you’re hooked”.
Karchevskaya thinks that the higher-ups were aware of the rumors about Knysh but his gymnasts won medals and medals were more important than anything else:
“When I heard about Korbut, I said, “and who didn’t know this?!” When we went to competitions to Minsk or other places, people said about us: “Knysh’s harem came”. They said it openly! The whole republic! My husband was a volleyball player. When we got close, he proposed right away. All the athletes told him: “Who are you marrying? Knysh’s harem?” So why would married women say anything now that something happened? Who will ruin their reputation? No one. And it’s understandable. But I’m not speaking out just because my husband passed away. I could say it when he was alive, too”.
Another gymnast, Galina Chesnovskaya, who was Korbut’s teammate, says that she was traumatized by Knysh making her look at pornographic magazines. She was 16 at the time and says Knysh drove her outside the town, into some field, gave her the magazines and left. The magazines, she says, contained child pornography among other things. She tells that she can still see some of the images in her mind, such a huge shock it was for her. Just as two other gymnasts, she also says that Knysh regularly brought sex toys to show to his pupils.
Chesnovskaya also talked about being “the last one in the car”: “He put six of us into the car. We all knew that the one who got chocolate, he’d leave her the last one in the car and will be “having fun” with her”. She often tried to hide after practices in order not to get into the car with Knysh. She says her father’s lucky interference saved her from being raped: “He held my hands in the car, at 11:30 pm. He said: “I’ll rape you now”. He didn’t even turn off the car. My father was coming home, he saw us, opened the car’s door, and Knysh immediately left. I was so ashamed. You can’t imagine how terrible embarrassed I was in front of my father, that I could allow this – to sit in one car with this scumbag”. Chesnovskaya says Knysh expelled her from his gymnastics class the very next day. According to her, this experience ruined her life as she was unable to have normal relationships after that. She also says that Knysh kept calling her and harassing her on the phone well into her adulthood.
The journalists also interviewed the detective who investigated the rape case in 1981. Knysh was accused of harassment, rape and causing suicide after his 17-year-old gymnast tried committing suicide by taking pills. The girl said that Knysh started having sex with her when she was 14 and it continued for several years. The detective says that the girl described it as a consensual relationship and at the time 14 years old was legally the age of consent in USSR, so Knysh couldn’t have been charged with statutory rape.
Chesnovskaya and Ryabkova said that during the investigation the detective talked to them about Knysh and the victim but he never asked them whether they were molested or raped and they didn’t tell anyone.
Liudmila Bozhko, Olga Korbut’s sister who also trained with Knysh said she didn’t know at the time what was happening to her sister but she regularly witnessed Knysh beating Olga. She also had her own “last one in the car” incident and said Knysh made her look at sex toys he brought to the gym.
Renald Knysh was also interviewed for this article. He claimed that the gymnasts are lying because they were all in love with him and jealous because he didn’t pay enough attention to them.
Altogether it makes 6 gymnasts accusing Knysh of sexual abuse, with the incidents happening over three decades.
Photo: https://nina.nn.by
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