This Russian, who became world famous in 1972 at the age of 17, is now 37 years old, lives in Minsk, and is suffering from thyroid problems and exhaustion related to radiation poisoning following the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. Who is it?

This clever question is a bit of a time capsule, framed as if it were written in the early 1990s. Olga Korbut, the Belarusian-Soviet gymnast, was born in 1955. This means that in 1972, when she became a global sensation at the Munich Olympics, she was 17 years old. Doing the math, she would have been 37 years old in 1992. This timeframe also aligns with the reference to the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, as concerns about its long-term health effects on residents of the region, including Minsk, were prominent during that period.

Known as the "Sparrow from Minsk," Korbut captivated the world with her charismatic personality and a revolutionary, high-risk style of gymnastics. She was one of the first to perform a backward somersault on the balance beam and pioneered the "Korbut Flip" on the uneven bars, a move so dangerous it was later banned from the sport. Her emotional and daring performances in Munich won her three gold medals and a silver, ushering in a new era of acrobatics and athleticism in a sport that had previously been dominated by more balletic routines. Her performance is widely credited with sparking a massive surge in gymnastics participation around the world.