  Hello again, y'all. I can't resist making a comment or two about Svetlana Khorkina, the russian prima donna of gymnastics. It seems that Svetlana is pretty sore about losing the all-around competition to America's Carly Patterson last week, and has taken to vocalizing her opinions to a russian newspaper. See, she feels that the judges had predetermined Patterson as the winner, and in her words, 'fleeced' her for the entire competition.
Let me take a step back. Khorkina is a product of the russian sports machine. They've churned out numerous gymnasts, divers, volleyball players, and wrestlers, among others. In a country that is too poor to support its once to be reckoned with space program, they invest everything they can into their athletes, and it has been paying off- until recently. Alexei Nemov is the last man to my knowledge to win the men's all-round in gymnastics for Russia. Alexander Popov was 'The Russian Rocket' in Barcelona, Atlanta, and Sydney, but resolved to slink out of the pool after failing to qualify for events in which he'd previously been so feared in Athens. Rulon Garder defeated the russian wrestling favorite (can't think of his name, but this man was a BEAR) to win the gold medal. Now, don't get me wrong- these are all awesome athletes. They once dominated thier respective sports, but knew enough when they were defeated.
I can't think of anyone who has acted as unprofessoinal and unclassy as Khorkina. In Sydney, it was discovered that the vault had been set five centimeters too low and consequently sent Khorkina crashing to her knees. My heart went out to her. She fell off the parallel bars. Again, my heart went out to her. In Athens, she fell off the bars again. Guess what? My heart went out to her. When Patterson defeated her in the all-around competition, I felt a sense of sadness as I knew that it would be Khorkina's last Olympics. She paraded around the appartus, toting her flag, draping it over the parallel bars, acting like she has for the past ten years or so- the russian darling slash prima donna- a very fitting role.
She commented that the silver medal was grand, in so many words, and that it was the best day of her life. Yet, four days later, she's changing her tune and crying foul. Give me a break! Khorkina should wait to talk smack after the Olympics are over and stop falling off apparatus- then maybe she'd win the gold medal.
Anyone watching the competition can clearly see that Patterson was the most mechanically correct out of the entire field. She didn't fall, she didn't stumble. She deserved the gold and got it. Khorkina has to realize that even though she is a sentimental favorite in the sport, it's not going to earn her medals. Near-perfect routines sometimes aren't even enough. It's a different scenario than Paul Hamm and the korean controversy- there, it was the judges screw-up. Here, it is Khorkina's screw up. Get over it, Svetlana. You're not the top dog anymore. The top dog won the gold, and even if she doesn't travel to Beijing to defend her title, she is still the Olympic champion.
However, feel free to come up with your own opinion. If you're going to award gold medals to sentimental favorites because you feel they should get it, call Popov back to the pool and give him a couple. Give Jenny Thompson three. Hell, I have a lot of friends- give ME one. Oh, wait- that's not how you're supposed to do it? Somebody had better tell Khorkina. Peace. 
