Besides “ending the Cold War“, Olga Korbut has done some actual charitable acts, such as making donations to an animal shelter and a children’s hospital in Arizona.
Last year Olga Korbut sold her medals at an auction for $183,000. The Russian press repeatedly reported that the reason for the sale supposedly was financial trouble.
Korbut denied these allegations in an interview to the Russian talk show “Pust Govoryat“, saying that her financial status is absolutely fine and that the main reason for selling the medals was trying to do good for others. Her ex-husband, famous Soviet singer Leonid Bortkevich, confirmed that Korbut was not experiencing any financial difficulties.
Korbut said:
“I was completely shocked. I’ve been living here for 15 years before the sale of the medals. [The press] said I was homeless, that I didn’t have anything to eat. If these medals bring happiness to someone, why should they lay around in a bag at my place and gather dust? I had a lot of problems with them. I kept losing them, the planes were delayed a few times because [the security] was checking what it was. I was thinking – what, will I take them to the grave with me? Let’s sell them, why do I need them? And the money, I gave it away. Of course, I kept some money, but I gave most of the money to a children’s hospital and a shelter for dogs and cats. I helped my family. You know, I’m so happy that I gave it away, that I helped someone”.
She thinks that the rumors about her money trouble and shoplifting were motivated by envy and negative public attention was initially one of the reasons she decided not to go back home after her first US contract ended:
“I found my home here. To throw everything away, to move back there for a salary of 100 rubles, to start all over in a place where I wasn’t really wanted… The socialist, communist system wasn’t very good. When you come back as a hero, you’re not accepted. Even when my mom was still alive, in 1972, people would leave garbage under her door: here, your Olga just lifted a leg and look, she got an apartment already – that’s envy. It’s not very nice. Here there’s no envy. Perhaps, it exists here somewhere but not to such extent”.
Korbut also said that if she could have a do-over now, she would not choose to have a gymnastics career because of how hard it was:
“If you asked me now if I could go back in time, would I start it all over again? Nuh-uh. No, it was very hard. I look back and I remember how hard it was but I loved it so much that it didn’t feel that hard at the time”.
Support Gymnovosti on Patreon from only $1 a month and help us bring to you even more awesome gymnastics coverage!
