Video of Olga Korbut's Banned 'Dead Loop' Resurfaces, Goes Viral

Video footage of Olympic Gold medalist Olga Korbut has gone viral after a clip of her showcasing her banned move, the dead loop, in competition resurfaced.

The video showed Korbut, who represented the Soviet Union, performing an uneven bars gymnastic routine from the 1972 Munich Olympics.

On January 15, the 34-second clip began circulating on social media and has been viewed over 2 million times on Twitter.

The following day, the footage was posted on Reddit by user u/PumpedPrivacy, and has so far received over 145,000 upvotes and over 2,000 comments.

Korbut's routine received praise and admiration for the difficulty and precession she displayed, most notably for her ability to perform the "dead loop" move, alternatively known as the Korbut flip, that was later banned.

The move consists of standing on the high bar, executing a backflip and grasping the bar again. The move was banned from gymnastics and never performed in a high-level formal competition again due to the immense risk involved in its execution.

For her performance Korbut received a 9.8 out of 10 and she quickly became recognized across the world. According to a 2017 report by the Associated Press, Korbut said she was not prepared to become a celebrity overnight.

"I came unknown to the Olympic Games and overnight people make me famous," she said.

"I wasn't prepared for that, but it was funny when I came to the store with my money, they would give it to me for free."

Korbut is believed to now live in Arizona and, while speaking to Associated Press, highlighted the difficulties she has faced as a gymnastic coach following competition retirement.

She highlighted that some students did not appear to be as motivated as she would have liked, and she was then forced to switch her teaching style.

"In the first, I saw that maybe they didn't want to do it, maybe their parents pushed them in it," she said.

"But I do my classes very differently, to not push them, but invite them into this world.

"I would show them my medals and tell them that it's not very hard if you love to do that.

"I show them and teach them to be in love with gymnastics."

Korbut also faced questions on her financial situation when she auctioned off her Olympic medals in 2017.

On the topic, she said: "This is Olympic history and I would like to share it with the whole world.

"They helped make it history and make it live forever. This is how I wanted to share with the people."

Korbut said after the auction she would go back to her peaceful life. Selling her medals and trophies through a U.S. auction house, she received around $333,500.