Athletistic / Artistic gymnastics. In the 90s of the 20th century, Russia performed at the Olympic Games with Soviet baggage. This has helped our team to consistently be among the most outstanding and successful teams at the Games and among the strongest in the unofficial team medal standings. Thus, during the last Olympic Games of the second millennium, organized in 2000 in Sydney (Australia), Russia was among the big favorites.

During these years, Russians won a large number of medals in artistic gymnastics. The leader of the men’s team was the legendary Alexey Nemov, and Svetlana Khorkina stood out among the women. She was one of the best gymnasts on the planet and already had gold and silver medals in her collection at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta (USA), as well as five victories at the world championships. If in Atlanta the 17-year-old athlete was “one of”, then she went to Sydney with the status of a world gymnastics superstar. For complete greatness, all she needed was Olympic all-around gold.

  • The Russian was openly condemned at the Olympics. But he saved the organizers from the wrath of the stands

Svetlana entered the competition in Sydney in incredible shape and had the toughest program of all the athletes. At that time, she already had the signature “Khorkin II” vault in her arsenal, and was also the “Queen of Parallel Bars,” having won four of the last five world championships in this type of program. However, her dream of becoming an absolute Olympic champion was never destined to come true. It’s a shame that this is the fault of the Olympic organizers.

During qualifying, Svetlana Khorkina confidently outstripped all her rivals, including her main rival, Romanian Andrea Raducan, who was almost one and a half points behind the Russian! Few people doubted that at the end of the gymnasts’ all-around competition, Russia would have another medal of the highest level in its treasury.

Photo source: IOC

The Sydney Olympic tournament traditionally began with team competitions. There, the Russian team won two of the four events (vault and floor exercise), took third place on beam and second on uneven bars. As a result, the Russians won silver and the Romanians walked away with a gold medal (Russia lost 0.205 points to the winner). This defeat might not have happened if Khorkina had not inexplicably fallen from the bars of the crown. Standing on the podium, Svetlana never even managed to smile, feeling guilty for the entire team’s defeat.

Two days later, the gymnasts competed in the individual all-around competition. As soon as the competition began, strange events began to happen in the arena – even famous athletes began to fall one by one into the vaulting sector. To our great regret, among them was Khorkina, who performed her signature combination (round – flap with 180° turn – tuck front somersault). In the air, Svetlana did everything at the highest level, but failed when landing and fell to her knees. Such a vault performance deprived the Russian woman of a chance to win a gold medal. Svetlana, realizing this, left the platform with tears in her eyes.

She performed her second vault cleanly and received good points, but Khorkina’s overall score on vault was only 9.343, which deprived her of any chance not only of gold, but also of any other medals . But the most interesting was yet to come…

During the competition, Australian gymnast Alana Slater, who studied every inch of the Olympic arena while preparing for her home Olympics, caused a scandal. She said the horse in the vaulting area was placed below standard. The Australian delegation immediately protested, after which the competition was stopped while organizers began to verify the protest. What was everyone’s surprise when it turned out that the height of the horse was actually set well below the standard: instead of the 125 cm required by the regulations, the projectile was lowered to a height of 120 cm.

The all-around finalists were allowed to re-jump, overturning their previous result, but that wouldn’t have helped Svetlana Khorkina. The fact is that when landing on the “wrong horse” she received a serious bruise on her knees, accompanied by noticeable pain. This fact, as well as the general condition after the broken dream of gold, greatly affected the Russian woman. Already on the next apparatus – her favorite uneven bars – she, continuing to compete despite the pain, falls again. Only a few minutes later, Slater will cause a scandal… As a result, Khorkina will refuse to jump over and will only take 11th place (after the disqualification of Raducan for Romanian doping, Svetlana will become 10th in the final protocol).

Photo source: IOC

Due to a knee injury, Svetlana Khorkina will refuse to participate in the final of the competition on individual apparatus on vault, but she will surpass herself and win a gold medal on the favorite uneven bars, and will also perform an incredible program on the ground. exercises and won another silver medal with her in Australia, losing only to compatriot Elena Zamolodchikova.

So far, neither the International Olympic Committee (IOC) nor the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) have given an answer as to who is responsible for the fact that the horse was not properly prepared during the competition Olympic Games in Sydney. I don’t want to constantly look for conspiracy theories in everything, but in this story, if you wish, you can see a deliberate attempt to prevent Russian Svetlana Khorkina from winning a well-deserved medal. Someone really didn’t want Russia to take first place in the unofficial team medal standings at the 2000 Olympics.

The only significant change after this scandal was the replacement of the projectile. Since 2001, gymnasts and gymnasts have been jumping not over a horse, but over a special apparatus – a “tongue” or “vaulting table”. Its design is designed in such a way that the smooth height change system is carried out in a single handle, allowing adjustment and fixation. Whereas with the old horse, the change in height occurred at two attachment points, which increased the risk of making a mistake when changing the height of the projectile.

Photo source: Reuters

At the two world championships following the Sydney Games in 2000, Svetlana Khorkina won the individual all-around twice, ultimately becoming three times absolute champion of the planet. The Russian will challenge herself and prepare for her third Olympic Games (in those years of artistic gymnastics, at 25, you were already considered a “veteran”). As a result, at the 2004 Games in Athens, Svetlana would win silver in the all-around competition, losing (with the help of the judges) to American Carly Patterson. Immediately after the end of the Olympic Games in the Greek capital, Svetlana will announce the end of her sports career.

Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic


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