"And we lost a lot because of that, and I think this is future gymnastics to separate ages. Because kids can do it more than adult. A woman and adult woman can show more than the small kids"
About this Quote
The line “kids can do it more than adult” lands like a grim technical note. Children can absorb repetitive pounding, contort into extreme shapes, and take risks with fewer immediate consequences. Adults - and she emphasizes “a woman and adult woman” - carry biology, injury history, and, crucially, the capacity for interpretation. That last claim is the subtextual pivot: older gymnasts can “show more,” meaning artistry, nuance, and emotional storytelling, the very qualities the sport claims to value while structurally sidelining the athletes most capable of delivering them.
Korbut’s context matters. She became a global icon in the 1972 Olympics, when the “pixie” gymnast image exploded: tiny, daring, made-for-TV. Her own fame helped build the modern spectacle, but her critique reads like a reckoning with what that spectacle incentivized. When she predicts a future of separating ages, she’s arguing for a sport that stops laundering exploitation as difficulty and starts treating maturity not as a handicap, but as a different, legitimate form of excellence.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sports |
|---|---|
| Source | Verified source: PBS Red Files: Olga Korbut Interview (Olga Korbut, 1999)
Evidence:
And we lost a lot because of that, and I think this is future gymnastics to separate ages. Because kids can do it more than adult. A woman and adult woman can show more than the small kids. (Interview transcript, around lines 40-44 on the PBS transcript page). I found the quote in the primary-source transcript of an interview with Olga Korbut published by PBS as part of RED FILES: Soviet Sports Wars. PBS describes it as a 'complete, unedited, unverified interview, portions of which were utilized in the Red Files PBS broadcast.' The surrounding passage on the transcript page shows Korbut discussing splitting Olympic gymnastics into two age levels, including: 'Separate from, until sixteen, and after sixteen years old' and 'Because up to sixteen years old you feel gymnastics more. You can show your emotion, grace, like woman gymnastics, not kid's gymnastics.' I did not find evidence of an earlier printed book/article source for this exact English wording. The PBS material is tied to the 1999 RED FILES project; a PBS press-tour page dated August 1, 1999 confirms the series timeframe. |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Korbut, Olga. (2026, March 17). And we lost a lot because of that, and I think this is future gymnastics to separate ages. Because kids can do it more than adult. A woman and adult woman can show more than the small kids. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/and-we-lost-a-lot-because-of-that-and-i-think-160651/
Chicago Style
Korbut, Olga. "And we lost a lot because of that, and I think this is future gymnastics to separate ages. Because kids can do it more than adult. A woman and adult woman can show more than the small kids." FixQuotes. March 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/and-we-lost-a-lot-because-of-that-and-i-think-160651/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"And we lost a lot because of that, and I think this is future gymnastics to separate ages. Because kids can do it more than adult. A woman and adult woman can show more than the small kids." FixQuotes, 17 Mar. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/and-we-lost-a-lot-because-of-that-and-i-think-160651/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2026.
