Biography

Svetlana Khorkina is a Russian artistic gymnast, two-time Olympic champion. In 1983 she began to engage in artistic gymnastics. She trained under the guidance of Boris Pilkin. She quickly established herself not only as a capable gymnast, but also as a hardworking, purposeful, ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of high results. And success was not long in coming. Since 1992, Khorkina has been a member of the Russian national artistic gymnastics team.

Her first serious success came in 1994 - she won two silver medals at the World Championships in Brisbane. Her first all-around victory came in 1995 at the European Cup. Svetlana was considered the favorite at the Olympics in Atlanta. But the Olympic Games were a disappointment for both Svetlana and the Russian team. In the all-around, having perfectly performed the floor and beam exercises, as well as the jump, Svetlana cannot cope with her nerves and falls from her favorite apparatus - the uneven bars, finishing the exercises only in 15th place. But she was able to win the individual competition on uneven bars. At the 1997 World Championships in Lausanne, changes to the scoring system were expected to negatively impact Svetlana, but she won her first overall world title after a stellar performance on the uneven bars, receiving the highest score. In 1998, Khorkina won the all-around at the European Championships. She started the 1999 World Championships as the favorite in the all-around, but after a disastrous performance on the balance beam she was left without a medal. However, she continued her winning streak on uneven bars, winning her fourth consecutive world title. She arrived at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney as a favorite. Svetlana managed to retain her title as Olympic champion on uneven bars. At the 2001 World Championships, she won the title of overall champion, as well as gold in the vault and uneven bars. With 5 world champion titles and 2 Olympic champion titles, Khorkina became the most titled gymnast on one apparatus. In 2002, Khorkina won the all-around at the European Championships. In 2003, Svetlana at the World Championships in Anaheim became the absolute champion for the third time, which no woman had ever achieved before. In the fall of 2004, she completed her sports career.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tango Papa