Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991                   TAG: 9104040301
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SEATTLE                                LENGTH: Medium

KORBUT FEARS FOR FAMILY IN WAKE OF CHERNOBYL

Korbut, a star of 1972 and 1976 Olympics, arrived Tuesday with her husband, Leonid Bortkevich, and their 12-year-old son, Richard, to visit the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where they underwent medical tests.

Korbut is here to promote a new foundation she and the cancer center are starting to aid victims of the Chernobyl accident. But she said upon arriving that she was worried she and her family also might have been harmed by radiation from the April 1986 nuclear plant explosion.

She said that like others exposed to the radiation, she suffers from fatigue and thyroid problems. She also suffers from a liver problem not believed to be related to the radiation.

The family was examined by Dr. Keith Sullivan, Hutchinson's director of outpatient medicine.

"We found no evidence of cancer or serious conditions," Sullivan told a news conference. "There's no immediate evidence of radiation-induced serious disorders.'

Korbut does have a slight enlargement of her thyroid, a condition he described as common and easily treated.

She and her family lived in Minsk, the capitol of Byelorussia, when Chernobyl spewed radiation into the skies. Minsk is about 180 miles from Chernobyl, which is in the Ukraine.

Korbut now lives in Hammonton, N.J., where she teaches gymnastics. Korbut said she plans to live in the United States for a time, but eventually will return to Byelorussia.