| Svetlana Khorkina |
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Svetlana Vasilievna Khorkina ( 1979 in Belgorod , Russia ) is Russia's most successful female Gymnast to date; winner of several world championship events and Olympic medals. She has posed naked for the Russian version of '' Playboy '' magazine in November 1997 , which created quite a scandal. She once dated men's world and Olympic champion Alexei Nemov . With aspirations to become an actress, Khorkina has appeared on the American Talk Show '' The Rosie O'Donnell Show '' and has also taken to the stage to as Brenda Venus, Henry Miller's last love, in a Sergei Vinogradov production. She also hopes to give back to Russian gymnastics in the form of coaching. However, she currently is more focused on motherhood, as she gave birth to her first child, a son, in Los Angeles , July 21 , 2005. At 1.65 m in height, she is unusually tall for her sport, and her elegance and long limbs are a trademark. This meant that new moves had to be created to accommodate her height and exploit her strengths - She has the most moves named after her in the Artistic Gymnastics '' Code Of Points ''. The Uneven Bars are her specialty apparatus, where her long legs and graceful lines are put to good use. 1996 SUMMER OLYMPICS Although she had yet to win a major all-around title, Svetlana was considered to be one of the strongest gymnasts in the field at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta . She finished second in the all-around at the previous world championships and had also finished first at international events on all four appraratus as well as in the all-around. The competition began with the team event - at the time composed of both compulsory and optional rounds. With the reigning world champions, Romania , compromised by injury, the Russian team had a good chance to win a medal - maybe even gold! The competition would be tough, with the United States fielding a strong team and competing in their home country. On the strength of their excellent training and strong technique the Russians narrowly edged the United States in the compulsory round. In the optional round, however, the team was narrowly defeated in the final rotation by the Americans, who won the title with a memorable vaulting performance by Kerri Strug . Khorkina had a slightly below average (for her) performance here, recording only the third-highest all-around total on her team. Her scores on the uneven bars, however, were enough to qualify her for the event final in first place. In the all-around, Khorkina started well with a 9.706 on vault which put her among the leaders at this early stage in the competition. Her next event was her best - the uneven bars, where she was sure to score well. But after attempting her new signature skill, a release transition from low bar to high with a half twist (or a Shaposhnikova-half twist, called the Khorkina II), Khorkina fell to the floor. Her score, a low 9.262, was enough to put her far out of medal contention. She finished 15th. Redemption would come in the apparatus finals where she caught the difficult release move she fell on in the all-around. With a score of 9.850, she won the gold medal ahead of Amy Chow of the United States and Bi Wenjing of China. In what would prove to be her first of three Olympic Games, Khorkina finished with one gold and one silver medal. 2000 SUMMER OLYMPICS Perhaps Khorkina's most notable competition. She came into the Olympics as favourite for the all-around title, and after preliminaries was comfortably ahead of the pack, also qualifying for three apparatus finals. It was in later rounds that a combination of uncharacteristic mistakes and extremely bad luck meant her Olympics started to unravel. The Russians were the favourites for the team title and after preliminaries, were secure in the knowledge that if they performed without error the title would be theirs. Unfortunatley, it did not work out that way. On all four events the more accomplished Russian gymnasts had major mistakes. Khorkina's came on her speciality, the bars, with a fall on one of her signature skills. In the end, they lost the team title to Romania by just two tenths. Further disappointments came in the All-Around - an event that turned out to be one of the most controversial in gymnastics history. Before the competition began the vaulting horse was accidentally set 5cm too low - not insignificant in a sport where the success of an element rests on spatial awareness and very small margins. A number of gymnasts made uncharacteristic errors and one, Annika Reeder , was too injured to continue the competition. Khorkina complained about the vault to an Australian official after the warm-up but was ignored. It was not until Australian Allana Slater echoed her sentiments that the vault height was investigated. By this time it was too late, Khorkina fell on one of her vaults and droped out of first place in the standings. On her next event, the uneven bars, she duplicated the mistake she made in the team finals, putting herself completetly out of contention for the all-around medals. In the end, those gymnasts affected by the vault problem were allowed to perform their vaults again. Khorkina declined this opportunity and finished 10th. This does not mean that she accepted the outcome. She was extremely angry about the mistake in the vault set-up, believing that it cost her the All-Around gold medal. Khorkina and many of her supporters also feel that the disruption in her mental state caused by her fall on vault led to her subsequent mistake on the uneven bars. In the gymnastics world this continues to be an extremely controverial matter. To complicate the situation, the eventual winner, Andrea Raducan of Romania was stripped of her medal after testing postive for a banned cold medicine. Simona Amanar , also of Romania became the official 2000 Olympic All-Around Champion. There are many opinions about who was the rightful Olympic champion and what the organizers should have done when they discovered that the vault setting was wrong. Khorkina's redemption would come in the apparatus finals. Although she qualified for vault finals, she gave up her spot to teammate Elena Zamolodchikova , and her instincts proved correct. Cheered on from the stands by Khorkina, she took gold. Khorkina's time came on the bars. She hit a flawless routine and won by a narrow margin, reacting with tears of joy and relief. After this, she seemed more relaxed and also won a surprise silver on floor. Her medal haul of one gold and two silvers was impressive, but Khorkina was angry and bitter about the vault mistake that she felt cost her the all-round gold. 2004 SUMMER OLYMPICS This competition was Khorkina's swansong, her last chance to achieve the Olympic all-around title that had eluded her. She went into the games as favourite, being reigning world champion, but it was not to be. In a battle with the younger Carly Patterson , Khorkina won the Silver Medal in the Women's Individual All-Around competition. Her final score was 38.211 with a 9.562 in Floor Exercises , a 9.462 on the Vault , a 9.725 on the Uneven Bars and a 9.462 on the Balance Beam . It was a battle between two gymnasts who encapsulated completely different aspects of the sport. Patterson was youthful and dynamic, at sixteen a relative newcomer. A powerful gymnast, she was capable of difficult tumbling and her beam dismount was particularly impressive. She was, however, somewhat lacking in artistry and grace. Khorkina was the opposite; much less of a natural tumbler than Patterson and with nothing like the same power, but with artistry second to none and capable of exquisite grace. In the end, it was Khorkina who faltered and Patterson was crowned Olympic champion. MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
Original Skills Sventlana has an unprecendented 8 skills in the Code Of Points , at least one on each apparatus. To put this in perspective, most gymnasts are lucky to get just one skill named after them. Not since gymnastics greats like Olga Korbut and Nadia Comăneci has one gymnast been so innovative. Skills named after Svetlana Khorkina Vault : Khorkina I Round off-half on-piked Cuervo Khorkina II Round off Half on-tucked rudi (this was a phenomenally difficult skill for Sveta due to her height and as she got older she seldom praticed it because of the wear and tear on her body from falling on that skill. Nevertheless she managed to hit this skill in competition with some success, most notably at the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Olympics . Uneven Bars : Khorkina I Front giant to hop release and regrapse the bars in the hect position. Also known as a Markelov (original a skill developed by a male gymnast, usually referred to by that name) Khorkina II Shaposhnikova with a half twist Khorkina III Stalder-Kim pirouette Beam :Khorkina I Gainer full-twisting back flip Khorkina II Gainer 2 1/2 twist of side or end of the beam dismount Floor Exercise : Khorkina I Jump 1 1/2 turn in horizontal to prone EXTERNAL LINKS |
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