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SNL's Olga Korbut Sketch Tackles a Real Moment in Olympic Gymnastics History
Gilda Radner portrayed the gymnast famously bested by Nadia Comăneci in the 1976 Olympics in a "Weekend Update" segment.
For almost 50 years, Saturday Night Live has provided comedic commentary on huge real-life moments in politics, current events, and of course, sports (in Season 49, those moments included Caitlin Clark's historic rise to fame as a college basketball player). The overwhelming majority of SNL's takes on the Olympics are no exception, leveraging real events to effectively memorialize them for decades into the future. Exhibit A: SNL's "Weekend Update" segment featuring Gilda Radner as Olga Korbut, a gymnast who represented the Soviet Union in the 1976 Olympics.
In it, fellow Not Ready for Prime Time Player John Belushi interviewed Radner's Korbut, following what was then framed as a disappointing (yet still successful) run at the Summer Games in Montreal, Canada.
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At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Korbut earned two gold medals for floor exercise and beam as well as a team gold medal, and dazzled on the uneven bars. As the first Olympic gymnast to execute a back flip to catch on the uneven bars, she's the namesake for the move, "the Korbut Flip."
Unfortunately, errors in her bar routine took Korbut out of gold medal contention in the 1972 event (she nabbed a silver). She arrived in Montreal with hopes of a winning do-over, only to be bested by Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci, who famously scored a 10. Though Korbut went home with a team event gold medal and a silver for her beam routine, getting outshined by Comăneci drew as much (or more) media focus.
This narrative, more than Korbut herself, is what the July 24, 1976 sketch poked fun at.
Gilda Radner wore Olga Korbut's red leotard and pigtails on SNL
"John, we know that Olga must be terribly disappointed and crushed by Nadia's success," "Weekend Update" Host Chevy Chase said. "Olga was the favorite to win. And now, out of nowhere, Nadia comes along wins the medals, becomes the darling of everyone."
"...And Olga is left alone and crushed, a forgotten and sad figure, a has-been at the age of 21," Chase continued. "But in the true Olympic spirit, John, could Olga tell us how she feels about the success of this wonderful 14-year-old Nadia?"
Dressed in a recreation of Korbut's red Soviet Union leotard and signature red-ribboned pigtails, Radner delivered the would-be gold medalists' sole line: "I would like to take that balance beam and stick it in her eye."
Watch Gilda Radner's "Olga Korbut" sketch above, and stream all 49 seasons of Saturday Night Live on Peacock.
