Alexey voynich is the husband of Olga Korbut. Chernobyl of Russian Cinderella. Why did they get divorced?
In Dallas (Texas), the two-day Platinum Night auction ended, the main lots of which experts named the medals of the famous Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut: Olympic Games 1972 in Munich and 1976 in Montreal. In total, 32 lots were presented, including Korbut order books, honorary awards of international sports organizations, a statuette marking inclusion in the Gymnastics Hall of Fame, a USSR master of sports badge awarded to her in 1970, a windbreaker of the USSR national team, the first American passport received in 2000 year:
and a swimsuit, in which she performed as part of the USSR national team at competitions in London in 1973:
For people of my generation, the name is fourfold Olympic champion Korbut is still fanned by the glory of the distant 70s. She was born in the city of Grodno, Byelorussian SSR in 1955. Already at the age of 17, she became a legend of gymnastics, making a real revolution in this sport and raising its popularity to unprecedented heights. Despite the Cold War, even in the United States, its fan clubs were opened, and thousands of girls around the world went to this most difficult sport, dreaming of becoming “like Korbut”.
At a very young age, she performed the famous element named in her honor "Korbut loop" - a combination invented together with trainer Renald Knysh, which, besides her, could only be repeated by one gymnast - Elena Mukhina (who later received a severe spinal injury and ended up confined to a wheelchair). When performing the "loop", the athlete stood on the upper part of uneven bars and jumped back, clinging to the upper bar with her hands, after which she grabbed the lower bars with her legs at speed and turned around them without using her hands.
Currently, the Korbut loop cannot be seen in official competitions, as gymnasts are strictly forbidden to stand with their feet on the upper bars due to the excessive danger of the performed combination. Also in the history of sports were such elements as "Korbut somersault" on a balance beam and "Korbut flick-flak" - a jump back from two feet.
In 1978, Olga married a famous musician, lead singer of the Pesnyary group, Leonid Bortkevich, gave birth to a son, Richard, and after the collapse of the USSR with her family she emigrated to the United States.
Apparently, the life of an outstanding ex-athlete overseas was not easy: she tried to do coaching, participated in various shows, but she could not achieve systematic employment. I recall a similar story told to me during an interview in the early 2000s by the famous Oksana Baiul, a Ukrainian single skater, world champion in 1993 and the 1994 Olympics, who also after sporting success moved to America, where, unfortunately, she could not find a stable work and once, in a state of alcoholic intoxication, provoked a car accident, was put on trial, was forced to undergo rehabilitation from alcohol addiction ...
Olga Korbut broke up with her husband in 1999 and lost her home in Atlanta due to gigantic utility bills. Bortkevich returned to Belarus, got married and still continues his singing career in his homeland. And Olga in 2000 received a passport of a US citizen and played a wedding with the Belarusian Aleksey Voynich, who is 17 years younger than her. And two years later, the world gymnastics star struck the world when he was caught stealing food in an Atlanta supermarket - cheese, a pack of tea, a bottle of chocolate syrup, figs and peppers worth ... $ 19. At that time, thanks to her former glory, Korbut got off with a fine, but just a couple of months later, her 22-year-old son Richard, who was arrested for making counterfeit money, ended up in prison with her in America. The guy was imprisoned for 3.5 years instead of 7 and was deported to Belarus. And Olga seems to have found in the USA a place as a coach in the road sports school(according to other sources, she began to teach fitness in a sports club). In rare interviews with compatriots, she expressed a desire to return to Russia or Belarus, but did not advance in this direction further than talking.
And now, like a snow on his head - a message about the auction at which Olga Korbut sells rarities that she kept since the beautiful history of the "miracle with pigtails" (as the sports superstar in the early 70s was nicknamed by journalists).
The result of the auction: only an insignificant part of the lots went to a total of $ 230 thousand, but Korbut, taking into account the payment of commissions in favor of the auction house, will receive $ 183.3 thousand. for $ 66 thousand, being the most valuable trophy in the Korbut collection. The gymnast won this award together with Lyubov Burda, Tamara Lazakovich, Antonina Koshel, Elvira Saadi and Lyudmila Turischeva. The gold medal of the same Olympic Games for floor exercise went to auction for $ 52.8 thousand, and silver on the uneven bars - for $ 24.6 thousand. For the team gold of Montreal 1976, an anonymous buyer laid out $ 57.6 thousand, for silver on a balance beam - $ 24.6 thousand In addition to the medals, the Korbut leotard, in which she performed in London in 1973 ($ 3 thousand), and her autograph on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine ($ 49), went under the hammer.
Another 26 lots have not yet acquired new owners. Among them - the last of the Munich awards (gold on a balance beam), as well as two medals of the same value, won at the 1974 World Championships in Varna, and four silver medals from the same tournament. The badge of the master of sports of the USSR also turned out to be unsold. Other unclaimed rarities include a Gymnastics Hall of Fame statuette, a Man of the Year 1972 award from the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC, and the first passport of a US citizen.
Olga Korbut, now living in Phoenix (Arizona), has not yet commented on the auction story for the press.
Simonova Inna Anatolievna, Cand. history. Sci., member of the SP of Russia, member of the Union of Journalists of Moscow
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In the last year, they began to write about Olga in connection with a new marriage and the birth of a son to her ex-husband - "songwriter" Leonid Bortkevich. Like, Olga herself married a computer scientist from Belarus named Alexey. However, Alexey turned out to be not a computer scientist at all, and all the other horror stories about Korbut are not so scary. Because, as it turned out, during the unpleasant events of recent years, there was a loved one next to Olga.
It took some time to believe that Alexey was not a computer scientist. During our conversation, every now and then he grabbed the mouse and climbed into the network: for the weather in the state of Arizona, in order to show that there are two words about Olga on the Russian search engine Rambler, and on the English-language Google there is a sea of information, for photos of pets: Pitty cats and a guinea pig named Piggy.
The conversation might not have taken place, but on that very day, May 16, an article was published in Moskovsky Komsomolets dedicated to the miracle with pigtails, which turned 50 on that day.
Just read! Almost everything is not true!
Well, well, even if it's not true, - our acquaintance began with a discussion, - But how to find out the truth !?
Word for word, the argument worked, a conversation ensued.
- It turns out that you are not a geek?
No, of course, and never was. But he really did take pizza. In 1999, when I came to America, I did not know the language, did not have the usual status, acquaintances and connections. There are quite a few jobs that hire the "dumb, deaf and illiterate". Miraculously got a job as a pizza delivery man. For the sake of additional income, many Americans deliver pizza, and this is not so prestigious.
- And how much can you earn?
Pizza delivery men don't have a salary, they earn by tips. A year later, I developed a whole system of how to get a big tip. First, you need to be able to drive quickly and without fines. I learned short drives along parallel streets where there was less traffic, and I got to the client faster than others. This is important because a person waiting for pizza is usually hungry. Secondly, your appearance is important: you need to drive up to the house quickly, but not abruptly. Park your car straight ahead. Thirdly, it is a little theatrical to carry the goods carefully and carefully. Never cut the corners of the paths or step on the grass. One of my regular customers once paid a $ 100 tip for a $ 9.99 pizza delivery. Oh yes. And I drove a new car and washed it every morning.
A year later, I learned the language and came as a simple stocker (an employee who labels goods) to one of the Wal-Mart stores. And a year later he became an assistant manager: 350 subordinates. Then he dropped everything and began to engage in Olga's company and his own projects in the real estate market.
An acquaintance from the guinea pig website invited me to work in Moscow
- How did you get an invitation to work from a reputable Moscow company?
My current leader, like me, is a big fan of guinea pigs. When my pig died, I was terribly saddened and rushed around the new little pig like a brooding hen, reacting to every breath and sneeze. And Sergei is an experienced pig breeder. He helped me a lot with advice. Then he asked what I was doing in Arizona. I replied that it was marketing. "O! He exclaimed. I also! In what area? " “In real estate,” I answer. And when, after a typhoon in Southeast Asia, the top manager of this company disappeared, Sergei called me to take his place: "Would you, dear, work for big money in Moscow?" Well, if for a lot of money, and even temporarily, why not.
This is how I live now: work is here, my wife is there. But every day we talk on the phone for a long time, fortunately, the technology of Internet telephony allows us to have an ordinary American phone in a Moscow apartment with a local Arizona number.
- But if your projects in America brought good money, what are you doing in Moscow?
Ha! Business in Moscow is much more interesting. I am the third person in a company that is a market leader. 5500 employees. Well, to be completely honest, I work on Olga's projects at night, because Russia and America are in different hemispheres. When it's day there, it's night here. So everything works out.
- Did you study in Moscow?
At the State University of Management. And I also studied in Minsk at the Faculty of Journalism. I gave it up. Then - at the Faculty of Psychology at the Pedagogical University. After four courses, I also dropped out. If not for my mother, I would not have enrolled at all. The main thing is to understand the essence of the ongoing processes. And with this understanding, you can do business.
- Did you have to work in your first specialty?
Not for long. In one of the youth publications I worked as a photographer, wrote only in Belarusian. Then, in the late 80s, if you remember, it was very fashionable.
Before Olga, I had no adult relationships with girls.
- How did you meet Olga?
O! That was a long time ago. I was 17 then (now Alexei is 34 - ed.). Together with my fellow journalist, who interviewed Bortkevich, I came to their house and was stunned: Olya was so small, thin - a miniature. I have never met such women on the streets. And these are exactly what I like. Imagine what happened to me when I was 17, especially since I have never had any experience of adult relationships with any of the girls.
- And how did your relationship develop?
Stormy. But then Olga, for some reason, did not want to get divorced. Richard was still small, and Olga was 34, and for some reason our age difference was felt more than now. And then in 1994 we quarreled and made it up already in 1999.
- How did you manage to hide your relationship from Bortkevich?
At that time, he had an affair with another girl, so there were no particular scandals. We stayed on good terms with Bortkevich and often talk on the phone. Besides, his son is now mine.
- You said that you came in 1999. It seems that this was the year Olga got divorced?
Yes, when I arrived, the marriage was gone.
- Why did they get divorced?
Well, why do people get divorced, their marriage has run its course.
- She called you?
Yes, she felt bad.
- Did you think for a long time whether to go or not?
No, I decided right away, immediately got ready and came. Moreover, at that time in Belarus it was already very bad, investments practically stopped, the risks increased too ....
- Did you get married right away?
Richard photocopied dollars to surprise the girls
Alexey, it would be wrong if I did not ask you about Olga's son, Richard. What is this dark story with supposedly fake dollars, which he printed right in the house on a color copier? After all, none of the participants in that scandal ever explained what was true and what was fiction, and why, after his son, Korbut herself was detained in a supermarket? Only one thing is known: Richard is in prison.
Yes, an unpleasant situation. Rika decided to surprise the girls in the club with a big wad of money. I photocopied a hundred dollar bill. I copied for a long time, but I could not make the image match on both sides. As a result, he threw the drafts under the bed and forgot. Well, what a normal person would take a photocopy to a store! Moreover, the top image in those dollars did not match the bottom one.
At this point, Richard was living alone in an old house in Atlanta. After Olga's divorce, the house went to her ex-spouse, and Bortkevich left for Belarus, Mulyavin called him to Pesnyary again. We did not pay for the house, since it did not belong to us, all bank documents were reissued to Bortkevich. We took out a loan and bought ourselves another home.
A paper came from the bank: they say, either pay or give the house. Richard moved out immediately. All the deadlines passed, and the bank took over the house, and there they found these photocopies of dollars. And when the regalia and cups of the Olympic champion Olga Korbut were found in the house, the case seemed even more attractive. But in America, as you know, there is a presumption of innocence: you cannot take fingerprints from an honest person who was not involved in any dirty dealings. Therefore, the police watched Olga in the supermarket: they say, excuse me, let's go through, we saw how you put a can of ketchup in your purse. They took her away and legally removed her "fingers". We compared them with prints on photocopies of dollars - it didn’t come together. And all the charges against Olga fell apart.
We were already going to leave the state, looked after a new house, but at that moment one of the local journalists became aware of the fact of the arrest of a world gymnastics star in a supermarket. What started! He wrote an article. Everyone else began to reprint it! They began to call and ask questions. It was a nightmare! All journalists concluded that Olga was not detained in vain, but for theft, and released because they regretted it. Many wrote that Korbut was begging in America, that she was a kleptomaniac. It was an incredible, monstrous campaign against Olga. Since then, Olga stopped communicating with the press at all.
- Is that why you moved from Atlanta?
Not certainly in that way. It's cold in Atlanta, even snowing in winter. Temperature 0, 5, 7 degrees. And we were looking for a warm place. Olga, like me, loves warmth. Even in the summer, when going to the store, she takes a jacket with her - after all, there are strong air conditioners in the stores.
We already looked for a house in California, but then I ended up in the neighboring state of Arizona for work. And I liked it there right away. This is an amazing place: dry hot climate, mountains, giant cacti and green desert, the Grand Canyon. Snow lies a hundred miles away in winter, and the warm waters of the Gulf of California two hundred miles away (this is already the territory of Mexico, but the resort area is called "the beach of Arizona"). There are very few emigrants here. Until air conditioning was invented, it was not popular. Now the Americans are coming from all directions. After all, it is just paradise here: in January it is 20-27 warm with 5-15% humidity. We arrived and immediately fell in love with this paradise. I rented an apartment, rented a truck, loaded my family and drove for three days towards my dream.
- Olga was very worried about her son?
Well, what are you talking about! An only child. Many star children get "star fever", grow up selfish, turn into drunkards and drug addicts. Richard is a very enthusiastic, talented guy who never even tried a cigarette in his entire life and drank only one glass of champagne, and even then nominally, on the day of majority (21 years old).
Olga also moved to America because of her son. After Chernobyl, she was scared for the child and found an opportunity to send Richard to the States. Six months later, it became clear that the son was much better there, and it was unbearable to live separately from the child. Then an offer turned up to work as a coach in New Jersey, then in Atlanta….
In the next issue of "bbw" read the interview with Olga Korbut and the continuation of the interview with Alexei Voynich.
www.kp.ru
Olga Korbut was born on May 16, 1955 in Grodno (Belarus). Four-time Olympic champion. One of the most difficult elements is called the "loop Korbut».
www.kp.by
In the last year about Olga began to write in connection with a new marriage and the birth of a son from her ex-husband - "songwriter" Leonid Bortkevich. Like, herself Olga married a computer technician from Belarus named Alexei.
kompravda.eu
Olga called Alexey Voynich to America when she was really bad.
site
olga korbut alex voynich... : Alexey Voynich, husband of the legendary Olympic gymnastics champion ... kp.ru. We talked with Olga and Alexei, and the horror stories about the great athlete seemed not so scary.
www.mk.ru
Do not answer either myself Olga Korbut nor her husband, Alexei Voynich nor her relatives ex-husband, Leonid Bortkiewicz, not her son, Richard Bortkiewicz, not her lawyer, Howard Weintraub, not her manager, Kay Weatherford, not even the sheriffs of County Gwyneth.
fakty.ua
"Miracle with pigtails", "favorite of the public", "Russian sparrow" - so affectionately and affectionately called Olga Korbut her fans.
www.eg.ru
Natalia Rudova, Alexei and Andrey Chadovy, Nastasya Samburskaya, Elena ... Dima Bilan's gastronomic shopping.
vk.com
Olga Korbut, Kiev, Ukraine. Graduated from KEIM (Ekomen) in 2008. Log in or sign up to contact Olga Korbut or find more of your friends.
www.youtube.com
Alex Voinich.
litfile.net
Olga married a Belarusian Alexey Voynich, who is nineteen years younger than her, and has been in love since he, seventeen, first saw thirty-six Korbut.