Svetlana Khorkina

[Tinks]

I thought when Khorkina was doing her floor exercise and smiling and actually enjoying it, she was pretty. I was also hoping she would take gold as she was robbed in Sydney, but I had a hard time not rooting for the confident , calm American girl who won it. Now the American looked like she enjoyed every moment! And WOW to her beam performance!!!

 

[Kitty 34]

As much as I was happy that Carly took the gold, I would have been just as happy seeing Svetlana get it, especially since this was her last time performing in the Olympics. It's been a long road for her.

 

[missypie]

NO WAY is Svetlana currently 110 pounds...I bet she is more like 90 or 95. I am 5'5" and 110 pounds and I look MUCH heavier than her ... I'm sure I'd look downright overweight in a leotard on TV. I have thighs and a rear, which Svetlana certainly doesn't have. I think the info in the webiste is old information. If you noticed in the NBC piece that interviewed her in Russia, she weighed quite a bit more whenever that was filmed.

My girls and I love Svetlana. I was built just like her in high school. DD, an 8 yr. old competitive gymnast, is built just like her. Tall skinny girls don't look the same as the other gymnasts, but they can achieve very beautiful lines if they take advantage of their body type. (Funny that her signature event has always been bars, which is the event they say is always the most difficult for the tall girls.)

I was so happy that Svetlana accepted her silver medal graciously. I think that comes with maturity. I'm sure she was disappointed, but she made the decision to put on her happy face and it was noticed and appreciated. (I also think Courtney Kuppets was very gracious last night. She and Carly tied for 1st at the US Championships, so it must have been hard for her to see Carly do so much better at the Olympics. But the smile never left her face.)

 

[OhMari]

she wanted to win gold more than she wanted to mother her own child

I thought she was quoted as saying, "she wanted to win gold as bad as she wanted to mother her own child"

 

[Disney's Deluxe Princess]

Originally posted by Kitty 34
I would have been just as happy seeing Svetlana get it, especially since this was her last time performing in the Olympics. It's been a long road for her.

Yeah, she's kind of the Michelle Kwan of gymnastics, albeit with more attitude.

I agree that someone suffering from annorexia would be unable to compete at that level.

 

[Galahad]

What we noticed first wasn't her size but that she just looks angry all the time. It must be tough to be the center of the universe.

 

[Disney's Deluxe Princess]

Originally posted by Galahad
What we noticed first wasn't her size but that she just looks angry all the time. It must be tough to be the center of the universe.

It's funny how people perceive things differently. I didn't get an angry vibe at all. I thought she looked determined. I think it would be tough to be all smiles during competition. She also looked so relaxed when it was all over.

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

Originally posted by missypie
NO WAY is Svetlana currently 110 pounds...I bet she is more like 90 or 95. I am 5'5" and 110 pounds and I look MUCH heavier than her ... I'm sure I'd look downright overweight in a leotard on TV. I have thighs and a rear, which Svetlana certainly doesn't have. I think the info in the webiste is old information. If you noticed in the NBC piece that interviewed her in Russia, she weighed quite a bit more whenever that was filmed.

Muscle mass weighs more than fat, so if you both have the same height & weight, she could possibly look thinner because she has more muscle. I'm also 5'5" and outweigh you by about 10 pounds and I look skinnier than she does...we all carry our weight differently.

 

[mickeyminnie]

I was also happy that she accepted the silver the way she did. She was celebrating and smiling to beat the band. Even if she had clenched teeth, she hid it well and will be remembered for her smile.

I actually felt Carly was kind of distant with the whole thing, perhaps it just hasn't sunk in yet, her interview last night was strange, she seemed to want to say something about Svetlana's performance but held back, maybe I am reading into it, but I am hoping she was just overwhelmed. By comparasion Paul Hamm was a very gracious winner the night before.

editted to add: I am sure some of Carly's interview was a result of her age.

I also want to add that I was happy to see the older gymnasts do so well, it is scary for all that pressure to be on such young shoulders. I thought Mo handled her surprise beam rountine very well in the team competition.

 

[puffkin]

I thought she was quoted as saying, "she wanted to win gold as bad as she wanted to mother her own child"

That is what she said. She did not say she wanted the gold more than having a child.

Also, if she is what people find beautiful, then that is just disgusting. She looks like a walking skeleton. Yes, she may be naturally skinny and can't help it, but I don't think that is a body image people should strive for. She may be CURSED with a fast metabolism, not blessed. It is terrible that many Americans think her body type is ideal. I certainly hope she is not anorexic, and hopefully once she is done being such an elite gymnast, she will be able to put on a few pounds and look healthy.

I think she showed incredible grace and poise last night. She certainly surprised me and I was happy to see that kind of sportsmanship. I do think the judges were a bit generous in their scores for her though. She truly did deserve the silver last night, and Carly did deserve the gold.

 

[missypie]

I kept wishing that Carly would say something incredibly gracious about Svetlana's performance, but she never did. She's 16 and I don't think she's been coached much on how to give an interview.

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

Originally posted by puffkin
That is what she said. She did not say she wanted the gold more than having a child.

Also, if she is what people find beautiful, then that is just disgusting. She looks like a walking skeleton. Yes, she may be naturally skinny and can't help it, but I don't think that is a body image people should strive for. She may be CURSED with a fast metabolism, not blessed. It is terrible that many Americans think her body type is ideal. I certainly hope she is not anorexic, and hopefully once she is done being such an elite gymnast, she will be able to put on a few pounds and look healthy.

I think it's terrible that you are calling my body type "disgusting". I am in NO WAY saying that people should strive to look this way, but many of us that do are happy, healthy, and BEAUTIFUL.

 

[Tinkerbelle739]

Originally posted by DukeStreetKing
Yes, way too thin, but I thought she was the model of sportmanship as she stood on the platform with her silver medal. This is supposedly her last Olympics and she showed a great deal of pride and composure and left like a true champion.

I totally agree!! She was proud of her achievments and it showed on the medal platform!!

Wishing everyone a "magical" day!!

 

[Disney's Deluxe Princess]

Originally posted by Strawberry Lemonade
I think it's terrible that you are calling my body type "disgusting". I am in NO WAY saying that people should strive to look this way, but many of us that do are happy, healthy, and BEAUTIFUL.

Strawberry Lemonade, this is the exact same prejudice my friend gets. At the mall when she was eating her pizza and fries, a woman actually came up to her and said, "How do you eat like that and stay so skinny?". How rude is that? I was appalled. She gets it so much that she's used to it now. Imagine going up to a heavy person eating a salad and saying, "Why are you so fat when all you eat are salads?".

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I don't think she acted mature at all. She's older and supposed to be more experienced, so accept the score and the loss gracely. I though the others who were mainly teenagers acted more maturely, even if they didn't like the score. What's with the sour puss on her face all night? It was nice to Carly win over her.

 

[m&m's mom]

I don't mean to be crude but it is not anywhere near normal for your pubic bone to STICK OUT to that degree.
Remember the camera does add a bit of weight. I think no way she is 110 pounds.

 

[missypie]

It's her "game face." Are baseball pitchers insulted by the media and fans when they don't have a smile on their face when they are winding up to pitch?

I always remember Mary Lou Retton's eyes. She was known for her electric smile, but when she was running for a tumbling pass, her eyes narrowed to slits and she had this killer look on her face (which would turn into the famous smile as soon as she landed it.)

It would be interesting to see if a gymnast who always had a terrific smile would do better in competition than one who had a stone face or scowled. If you are smiling, are you percieved as more relaxed and do the judges subconsciously judge you higher? If you smile, does the crowd like you more, so you get more positive feed back, so you do better? Or is a smile meaningless when it comes to the score? [Hey, if anyone out there is majoring in sports psychology, there's a project for your master's thesis: you could tape a bunch of gymnasts with and without smiles and get some real judges to score the tapes.]

 

[puffkin]

I think it's terrible that you are calling my body type "disgusting". I am in NO WAY saying that people should strive to look this way, but many of us that do are happy, healthy, and BEAUTIFUL.

What I find disgusting is people who are not built like that naturally trying to achieve that type of image. I have friends who are very healthy that are built like that and people try to call them anorexic all the time. Svetlana didn't look skinny but healthy. She looked sickly. I wasn't trying to offend anyone who is naturally built like that, I was more commenting on the fact that many people feel they HAVE to look like that to be beautiful.

 

[DemonLlama]

I keep remembering the scene in Bull Durham when Kevin Costner was coaching Tim Robbins on his interviewing skills: "Just happy to be here, hope I can help the ball club. We'll take it one day at a time and Lord willing it will work out. . . Write it down!"

Carly will get better in her interviews with time. And she will learn not to show her hand too much, as she did when she seemed to want to say something about Khorkina. What did she think about SK's floor routine? She thought, I can beat that, no problem. And while Carly did show that little smile before catching herself, she knows enough to be gracious in the interview.

The positions were exactly reversed in 2003 Worlds: Khorkina got some tenths just on her reputation and got gold over Carly by a tiny margin.

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

Originally posted by puffkin
What I find disgusting is people who are not built like that naturally trying to achieve that type of image. I have friends who are very healthy that are built like that and people try to call them anorexic all the time. Svetlana didn't look skinny but healthy. She looked sickly. I wasn't trying to offend anyone who is naturally built like that, I was more commenting on the fact that many people feel they HAVE to look like that to be beautiful.

If I misunderstood your intention, I apologize. But I still feel that the fact that she can go through grueling workouts and performances without needing to be hospitalized or even passing out is some proof that she just may be a solid, healthy individual nonetheless.

Her makeup was not flattering at all - her blusher was used to draw attention to her cheekbones which gave her a hollowed-out sort of look. I also think this contributing to her "sickly" look.