Gold stays in the Bela stables; Khorkina second

“I think it’s the best day of my life,” said Khorkina, with tears of joy streaming.

Draping a red, white and blue Russian flag round her shoulders, she savoured her big moment in what is her third and final Olympics.

Fourty seven months after a faulty vault setting robbed her of the title in Sydney, a beaming Khorkina adjusted her olive wreath crown as she waved to the crowd and showed off her medal to all corners of the Olympic Indoor Arena.

While the 25-year-old missed out on becoming the first non-teenager to win the individual crown since the 1968 Games, Thursday’s achievement at least went some way towards healing her heartache from the Sydney Games.

Looking to the future, she said: “I feel I’m capable of continuing but I feel it’s the right time for me to go. I’m a woman, I’d like to have a family and I’d like to be loved.”

The image of a grinning Khorkina was a far cry from the one who told reporters to “Get lost” in 2000.

“I was waiting for my whole life to get an Olympic (all-round) medal because Sydney was a bad day for me,” said Khorkina. She was favourite to win the title in Sydney and had entered the final as the top qualifier but her hopes were dashed after she crashed to her knees from the vault.

It was later discovered the horse had been set five centimetres too short and an incensed Khorkina blamed the error for her failure.

“I would like to be remembered as the unique Svetlana Khorkina, such as I am, with all that I have achieved,” she said before arriving in the Greek capital. “I hope I have contributed a lot to gymnastics and that my name will remain in its history.”

With her place in history already assured — last year she became the first athlete to win three world championship all-round titles, eclipsing Patterson to the crown — Khorkina was determined to soak up the atmosphere on Thursday.

(Reuters)