Svetlana Khorkina

Svetlana Khorkina





Birthdate: January 19, 1979
Birthplace: Belgorod, Russia
Residence: Moscow, Russia


Svetlana Khorkina is currently considered to be the best female gymnast of today. She began gymnastics when she was four but didnot seriously do it until she was six. Although, at 22 and at the height of 5'5'', she is "too old" and "too tall" for gymnastics, she performs all of the required skills with perfection and shows the grace which has been missing in gymnastics for a long time. She has been unbeaten in her favorite apparatus: the unevenbars (also known as the assymetric bars). She won gold in the apparatus at the Olympics in 1996 and 2000, at the World Championships in 1995, 1996,1997, and 1999, and at the European Championships in 1996, 1998, and 2000. Although, she is considered to be the best, her winning stature has been like a yo-yo. In the 1999 world championships, Russia was in position to win the team competition but her fall on the balance beam allowed Romania to go infront of them and claim the gold. In the all-around, she finished 12th after struggling in the beam and vault. She came back during the 2000 Europeans by winning the all-around competition and of course, the uneven bars. A few months later, during the Sydney Olympics, she won the uneven bars, and won silver in the floor exercise and team compitition.