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Svetlana Khorkina may be destined to dazzle the world

There's one every generation, a gymnast who transcends her sport with that rare combination of skill and star power.

She's as much a celebrity as she is an athlete, an Olympic darling who will be remembered long after her glittering career has faded. First it was Olga. Then Nadia.

Now it's Svetlana Khorkina's turn. And as the 24-year-old Russian prepares for her last world gymnastics championships and Olympics, she's embracing her exalted status as if this was what she was born to do.

"I hope I have contributed a lot to gymnastics, and that my name will remain in its history," she said Thursday night after a training session at the world championships.

"I would like to be remembered just as Svetlana Khorkina, such as I am, with all that I have achieved."

The worlds begin Saturday with the men's team preliminaries. The women's competition begins Sunday.

Khorkina's resume alone would rank her as one of the sport's greats. She's won 15 individual medals at the world championships, including two all-around titles, and four team medals. At the 2001 worlds, she won three golds and a bronze -- a haul entire countries can't even touch.

She's also a two-time Olympic gold medalist on the uneven bars, her speciality. And most believe she would have won the all-around at the Sydney Games if she hadn't been flustered by a vault that was set at the wrong height.

She's nearly a decade older than many of her competitors now, but it hardly seems to matter. In the women's all-around next Friday, she'll be the one to beat.

"Khorkina is still going to be Khorkina," Bela Karolyi said. "She's going to do her hocus pocus."

And it's that "hocus pocus" that's made Khorkina a star. In a sport filled with solemn-looking sprites, she has an engaging, enraging spunk that demands attention. She once posed for the Russian edition of Playboy, and she wants to be an actress when she retires.

When she tumbled off the balance beam during training Thursday, nearly landing on her head, she broke her fall with a somersault. Most gymnasts would have climbed back on the beam with a scowl, but not Khorkina. She bounded off the podium laughing at her mistake and the crowd loved it, giving her a round of applause.

She can be mercurial, blowing past reporters with barely a glance one day, displaying her sharp, playful wit the next. She seemed almost like a fencer at a news conference Thursday, narrowing her eyes and giving sharp retorts when someone asked a question she didn't like, then pulling back with a smile.

When she was asked about her failure to win a medal at last fall's individual event world championships, she said she didn't remember them. And then she winked.

Asked if she had regrets about the Sydney Olympics, she replied, ``It was a long time ago, and you shouldn't remember moments like this in your life.''

But she practically growled when she was asked how it feels to be 24 in a sport of teenagers.

"For goodness sake, I am not the only one of this age around," she said. "What's the problem? It's not the (age), it's how you feel in this life."

And Khorkina has made a career out of defying convention. At 1.6 meters, she towers above everyone else on the floor by almost 15cm. That kind of height would doom nearly any other gymnast.
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