Korbut flip

English

Etymology

Named for Olga Korbut, who introduced the move at the Munich games in 1972.

Noun

Korbut flip (plural Korbut flips)

1. (gymnastics) A backwards handspring from a standing position on the balance beam or the higher bar of the uneven bars, catching the bar on the way down.
   • 1977, International Gymnast - Volume 19, page 46:

     Muchina was a new gymnast and her work was new (whereas Comaneci was near perfect but could almost be called 'old hat") but does a Korbut flip with full twist, a long upstart full twist and a hecht back somi...

   • 1978, Hal Straus, Gymnastics guide, page 10:

     One of the exceptional ten is fourteen-year-old Leslie Pyfer, whose most difficult trick at Springfield was a back flip on the beam with her legs held straight (which is quite a bit harder to do than the original Korbut flip).

   • 2007, Adam B. Hofstetter, Olympic Gymnastics, →ISBN, page 14:

     In that routine, she showed off the first backward release move ever attempted on the uneven bars— a move so unusual and impressive that it became known as the Korbut Flip.

   • 2012, John Philips, Who cares who’s 3rd?: (or 2nd for that matter), →ISBN, page 25:

     Get on the sofa, cross yourself, then pitch it with all your worth backwards, in the tucked position. If you land with both feet on the strip, then Gunga Din to you . . . you've just done a version of the Korbut Flip . . . if you can't, you'll never be a gymnast.