Khorkina's homeland. Biography of Svetlana Khorkina. Personal life of Svetlana Khorkina

He is very jealous of his personal life. Now Svetlana Khorkina and Oleg Kochnov are an ordinary family, raising the athlete’s son, Svyatoslav. Finding out any details about their acquaintance or wedding is extremely difficult; one can only speculate...

In sports

The biography and personal life of Svetlana Khorkina are the subject of close interest of many fans and lovers of artistic gymnastics.

Svetlana's name in sports has become almost a household name. Already at the age of fifteen, the girl became the winner of the European championship, and then the world championship submitted to her.

At the 1996 Olympics, Sveta became first on the uneven bars. A year later, she received the title of absolute champion of the world championships and confirmed it for the next season.

The most successful year in the gymnast’s career was 2001. Again, absolute recognition in all events and first place in vaults and uneven bars.

The last major competition for Khorkina was the 2004 Olympics. Then the team became third, and in the individual championship Sveta won gold in the all-around.

After retirement

Leaving professional sports allowed Svetlana to deal with the development and support of artistic gymnastics in Russia.

At first, Khorkina worked in the Federation of this sport as vice president. In 2007, Khorkina became a deputy in the State Duma. She supervised the problems of her favorite gymnastics. Thanks to her, many young talents had the opportunity to prove themselves at international competitions.

At the Sochi Olympics, Svetlana acted as a goodwill ambassador and lit a fire in her native Belgorod.

Khorkina's creativity

The former athlete turned out to be talented not only on the uneven bars and in the office, but also in the literary genre.

In 2008, the autobiographical story “Somersaults in Heels” was published. In it, the author describes almost his entire life. Here you can find details about the difficult moments of her career, the injustice of the judges and the support of her fans.

He also talks extremely honestly about his personal life before the marriage of Svetlana Khorkina and Oleg Kochnov. Much attention is paid to who the father of her only son is.

The woman in the book explains the reasons for her participation in candid photo shoots for famous men's publications.

In mid-2017, the film “Champions” was released: The film is dedicated to the three best athletes of our time - Alexander Karelin and Popov and Svetlana Khorkina.

This year it is planned to publish another book by the wonderful athlete. The book is called “The Magic of Victory” and is dedicated to Svetlana’s achievements both in sports and in life.

Son

Khorkina considers the most joyful event in her life to be the birth of Svyatoslav, her beloved and so far only son.

This story is shrouded in secrecy. In the fall of 2004, when Svetlana said goodbye to big sports, she held demonstration performances in Mexico City. An unexpected deterioration in health forced Khorkina to seek medical help.

Imagine the gymnast’s surprise when she learned the diagnosis - pregnancy, about 2-3 months! Sveta couldn’t even imagine that you could be so happy and cry with happiness. Before this, she experienced such emotions only on the top step of the pedestal.

As for the father of the unborn child, many claimed that he was the husband of the well-known Vera Glagoleva - Kirill Shubsky. Only 6 years later, after the wedding of Svetlana Khorkina and Oleg Kochnov, this information was confirmed by the athlete herself. At the same time, Kirill officially recognized the boy as his son.

The romance between two famous people lasted about 2 years. Shubsky behaved as if he was going to leave his wife and marry Svetlana. But this did not happen even after the birth of their common child, Svyatoslav. Moreover, the boy was born in Los Angeles, where Kirill sent his expectant mother to give birth.

There was another interesting detail in this story. Wanting to avoid publicity, Shubsky not only changed all of Khorkina’s personal data, but also begged his friend to admit that he was the father of the child.

Svetlana herself considers this period a dark spot in her life. They do not communicate with Svyatoslav’s father, but the boy sees him periodically.

Oleg Kochnov

After such a failure in her personal life, the champion closed herself off from everyone with a veil of silence. She raised her son and waited for a reliable and devoted man to appear in her destiny.

The retired Oleg Kochnov became the leader, and Svetlana Khorkina entrusted herself and her son into his strong hands. She is sure that this person will not betray her and will protect and protect their family.

At that moment, several articles appeared in the press with the headline “Khorkina married an old man.” After all, Svetlana’s chosen one is 23 years older than her. The gymnast commented on these attacks with the following words: “But I finally found happiness and peace of mind. And it doesn’t matter what our age difference is. My son accepted and fell in love with him...”.

Oleg Anatolyevich Kochnov, after completing his service in federal bodies, held the position of head of the Security Service in the customs department. Then he began working in the drug control department.

Then he was invited to the Amur region as an assistant to the governor. After several years, the former officer became the authorized representative of this region under the President of Russia.

Family

How exactly Svetlana Khorkina and Oleg Kochnov met is not known for certain. Their wedding took place in April 2011 in a narrow circle of friends. Even the girl’s father did not know about this event, for which he was offended by his daughter for a long time.

The couple's first public appearance in their new status took place at the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Stuntmen Association. It was then that Svetlana Khorkina and her husband, General Oleg Kochnov, appeared in front of the cameras.

Currently, the couple live in Vatutinki. Svyatoslav is already 12 years old, and he respects his stepfather and consults with him on certain issues. Sveta devotes a lot of time to her family, but also manages to take care of herself. The husband tries to keep up with her - after all, they are famous people and should always look good.

1. Svetlana Khorkina and Oleg Kochnov have one common interest - a passion for weapons. In addition, the wife has a military rank - reserve lieutenant colonel.
2. Khorkina left her mark in artistic gymnastics. She became the author of several complex elements. Some of them bear her name.
3. At one time, Svetlana was the host of the famous reality show “Dom-1” and participated in the project “Dancing with the Stars.”
4. The name of the legendary champion is mentioned in the American TV series "Gymnasts".
5. A monument was erected in her honor in the athlete’s hometown.
6. In addition to the fact that Khorkina is married to an FSB general (albeit a former one), she manages to be creative. Recently, Svetlana recorded a disc with her own songs and tried herself as a theater actress in the play "Venus".

Started September 15th 2000 Olympics in Sydney was one of the last chances for an outstanding generation of Russian athletes to prove themselves - in fact, the last graduates of the Soviet school. Over the two weeks of the Games, the Russian team lost only to the United States in the unofficial team standings, winning 32 gold, 28 silver and 29 bronze medals. This is the team's best result in the history of the Summer Olympics.

“No one could stop me from doing anything”

2000 – golden time for the gymnast Svetlana Khorkina. She is the main star of this sport in the world. She is already the queen of the uneven bars, and no one doubted that Sydney would be conquered by the athlete from Belgorod. By this time, in addition to victories in the World and European Championships, she already had individual Olympic gold on uneven bars and team silver, won in Atlanta in 1996.

“I was ready. I'm already a winner. Nobody could stop me from doing anything. All options were excluded. All! But someone found it,” Svetlana recalled that story back in 2016.

By “found it” she means the strange story of the pommel horse. Having started the competition well, she demonstrated a jump in floor exercises that would later be named after her. And in the all-around, Svetlana went out to perform a jump on a horse and fell, breaking her knees.

But we must go further. Frustrated, Khorkina went to perform an exercise on her favorite uneven bars, still not understanding how she could make a mistake on the pommel horse. Demoralized, with severe pain in her knees, she fell in this exercise as well.

Only after this was she informed that the horse had been installed 5 cm lower as required: its height was 120 cm instead of 125. In artistic gymnastics, as a rule, short and stocky girls achieve success. Svetlana, with her height of 165 cm, was a giant among gymnasts. And in a situation with a knight lowered below normal, growth had the first effect.

The organizers never found out why the projectile was not in order. The athletes were allowed to perform the exercise again. But for Khorkina this did not make sense, since the uneven bars exercise could no longer be corrected. Vicious circle.

As a result, the legend of world gymnastics ended up in 10th place in the all-around.

Upset, Svetlana goes to the Olympic Village on foot, alone, to cry.

“It wasn’t pity, it was resentment. Offense to the whole world. Everyone was to blame for me then,” the athlete recalls.

Waking up in her room, she decided not to give up and prove to the whole world that Khorkina is still the queen of the uneven bars.

She performs brilliantly in her favorite discipline, leaving no chance for her competitors - there is individual gold. To celebrate, she even kisses the bars, on which she again managed to believe in herself.

In addition, Khorkina received silver in the team event and silver in the floor exercise at the Olympics.

"A Thorn for Life"

At the turn of the 1990s and zeros Gennady Shipulin brought VK Belogorye to the European level. By the Sydney Olympics, he was already a three-time champion of Russia: his team took gold in three seasons in a row. Since 1998, Shipulin also led the national team. In 1999 he won the World Cup. In 2000, Shipulin was 46 years old. He is on a wave of success, and Olympic gold seems closer than ever.

A whole galaxy of brilliant volleyball players raised in Russia went to European clubs. In post-crisis Russia, there is still not enough investment for the full development of its league. Most Russians, including the 25-year-old Sergei Tetyukhin, performed in Italian clubs. “Belogorye” at that time was represented only Konstantin Ushakov And Alexey Kuleshov.

In the first game, Shipulin's team dealt with the Yugoslavs - 3:1. Two days later the Americans were defeated with the same score. In the remaining games of the group round, the Russians dealt with South Korea, Italy and Argentina.

In the playoffs the team also looked more than confident. In the quarterfinals they defeated Cuba 3:2, and in the semifinals they confidently defeated the same Argentina - 3:1. In the final for Olympic gold, the Russians went to Yugoslavia, which at that time was coached by Zoran Gajić (after 2004, it was he who led the Russian national team, immediately after Shipulin left it).

It seemed that the opponent was more than convenient. However, self-confidence played a cruel joke on the Russians. 0:3 in games: 22:25, 22:25, 20:25. The Yugoslavs, it seems, were themselves shocked by this outcome.

The most productive player of that final for the Russians was Sergey Tetyukhin, who scored 11 points. Against the background of rejoicing Balkans and Russians coming to their senses, it was he who stood out. Heartbroken, Sergei sat with his head in his knees and could not come to his senses.

“That’s when I burst into tears out of resentment right on the court,” he later recalled. – In terms of skill, the Yugoslavs were no match for us, but in decisive matches, character and fighting qualities are more important. We came into the game overconfident and paid for it. That 0:3 defeat is a thorn in the heart for life.”

However, perhaps it was precisely that splinter that became the lesson in which Tetyukhin grew into a truly great Russian athlete.

Sergey Shevchenko

Svetlana Khorkina is known not only as an outstanding athlete, but also as a politician, TV presenter and outspoken fashion model. A successful participant and winner of prestigious competitions, she left the sport at the age of 25. The complex professional and personal life of Svetlana Khorkina is fascinating and unusual; today they become subjects for books and films.

Family and childhood

Svetlana Vasilievna Khorkina was born on January 19, 1979 in Belgorod in the family of a worker and a nurse. An amazing fact: her mother and father, without knowing it, paved the way for her to fame from an early age. The beginning of the sporting journey was touching. At the age of 4, the girl became seriously ill. To improve her health, her parents decided to send her to the gymnastics section. As time has shown, their decision turned out to be fateful.

A victorious path to sports glory

Khorkina went down in sports history as a multiple Olympic champion. Thanks to her masterful performance of complex gymnastic exercises, she became the unofficial “queen of the uneven bars.”
In 1992, the young athlete became a member of the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team, and in 1996 she won Olympic gold for the first time in Atlanta. Since then, every year she has received gold awards.
From 1995 to 2001, Svetlana held the title of world champion. Under the guidance of a coach, she develops and demonstrates a new series of techniques for gymnasts of non-standard height. The athlete’s unusual performances at least surprised the audience.
Events in Sydney in 2000 added a noticeable fly in the ointment. During the competition, the girl unexpectedly fell. The cause of the fall was an incorrectly positioned jumping horse. This was done deliberately, as many present at the competition and Svetlana Khorkina herself thought so. The athlete's biography was supplemented by an unpleasant fact - she received only 10th place and a knee injury.
Khorkina is an “old-timer” in the world of rhythmic gymnastics. She competed in Athens at the age of 25, which is not typical for this sport. The 2004 Olympics was the last for the champion. That same year, she announced her retirement from big-time sports.

Personal life of the legendary gymnast

The athlete’s personal life is no less eventful than her sports life. Like many busy people, it didn’t always turn out happily. On her way, she met a rich married man. In the personal life of Svetlana Khorkina, this man forever remained a dark spot. He turned out to be the husband of movie star Vera Glagoleva and the father of three daughters.

Being completely inexperienced, the girl found herself in a delicate situation. Kirill Shubsky and Svetlana Khorkina met at a dinner party in Switzerland in 1997. Soon a spark arose between them, which gave rise to living together. At that time, she sincerely believed in the serious outcome of the relationship. Svetlana tells how Kirill promised her a family life in beautiful terms. However, the eloquent lover had no intention of leaving his previous family. Years later, Khorkina expressed regret about her mistake. She admitted that she was too naive and young.
There were a lot of rumors around the scandalous affair. Svetlana shed light on this story in several candid interviews. The stormy relationship faded away as soon as Kirill learned about his beloved’s pregnancy. Trying to conceal his betrayal, Shubsky sent the young athlete to Los Angeles. Amazingly, in addition to this, before giving birth, he changed her last name.
Svetlana gave birth to a child in 2005 and gave him a beautiful name - Svyatoslav. For some time she hid who the boy's father was. At first, the businessman refused to recognize his son, but after a few years he finally did it officially.
Currently, the ex-champion lives in Vatutinki near Moscow. “I no longer intersect with Shubsky,” says Svetlana Khorkina. The athlete’s personal life was kept secret for some time. But today she has nothing to hide.
Despite all the hardships, she found happiness. The FSB general with a 23-year age difference became her husband. Khorkina Svetlana Vasilievna and her husband Oleg Kochnov legalized their relationship in 2011.

Despite the absence of children together, the couple is harmonious. Svyatoslav also gets along well with his stepfather. All of them are partial to sports, and in their future plans there is a possible addition to their family.

Active activities outside of sports

Having left sports life, Khorkina became no less successful. Her range of interests has expanded, and now she is known not only as a gymnast. As is often the case with outstanding athletes, she became interested in the politics and social life of the country.
The former gymnast is feminine and stern at the same time. She is seriously interested in weapons and is a member of the United Russia party. Svetlana Khorkina's military rank is Lieutenant Colonel of the Reserve Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Khorkina is still in demand. She can often be seen as the host of popular television programs. She was noted for her participation in the show “Dancing with the Stars” and the television project “Dom-1”, and in her youth she posed nude for Maxim and Playboy magazines.
The biography of Svetlana Khorkina became the basis for the film “Champions: Faster. Higher. Stronger". Here young Khorkina was played by Christina Asmus. There is also an episode about the champion in the television series “Gymnasts”.
The former sports star tried herself as a writer and singer. Her two literary works, “Gymnastics for Soul and Body” and “Somersault in Heels,” are dedicated to memories of the sporting past. In one of the books she mentions the name of the father of her child - Kirill. In addition to this, Khorkina released a music disc and successfully debuted in the theatrical production “Venus”.
Sports are still present in her life. Today she is known in Russia as a member of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation. Svetlana opened her own school for young gymnasts, where she teaches and demonstrates master classes. Khorkina is the author of several complex sports elements.

In her arsenal, in addition to the Olympic ones, there are awards for an active life and political position:

• 2001 - Order of Honor;
• 2002 - Badge of Honor “Sporting Glory of Russia”;
• 2006 — Order of the IV degree “For services to the Fatherland;
• 2017 - Presidential Certificate of Honor.

Svetlana is always the center of attention. Recently she was offered the prestigious position of mayor of the Black Sea ski resort Rosa Khutor for the 2016-2017 season. Today, a star with the name of the ex-champion flaunts in Sochi on the Walk of Fame among other Olympic celebrities.

30 June 2010, 14:45

Olympic champion, world famous gymnast - Svetlana Khorkina. She was born in Belgorod on January 19, 1979 in a family of ordinary workers, her father was a simple worker, and her mother was a nurse. There are two children in the family, Svetlana’s closest friend can be considered her mother, they share everything with each other and even the most intimate secrets. Beauty, charm, artistry, everything comes from the mother, but perseverance and hard work from the father.
As a child, Svetlana was crazy, running around with the boys through the streets from morning to night, since her parents were at work all the time. But as they say, every evil without a good, Svetlana fell ill, and then the doctors advised her to take up sports, so little Sveta began doing gymnastics. Svetlana’s success was immediately noticed and her coach, to whom she is very grateful, B. Pilkin, began training the little girl to become an Olympic champion. At youth competitions, Sveta had no equal, but that was not the limit. She felt truly grown up when she was given an offer that she could not refuse to join the Soviet Union national team, and she was only 12 years old. A new stage in Sveta’s life has begun. The worries began, even more responsibility appeared before her parents, coach, city, country, then she realized that she no longer belonged to herself. But in those years, Sveta did not forget about herself, she calmly communicated with friends, met young people, and generally behaved like an ordinary girl. Svetlana is not often at home with her parents, but she is always so worried about her family and friends, despite the fact that Sveta is a very strong and purposeful person, she is still a beautiful and interesting woman. When you look at this fragile girl, you won’t even think that she has a whole era of artistic gymnastics behind her. Three-time absolute world champion and multiple Olympic champion, vice-president of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation Svetlana Khorkina blew up the sports world with another victory. Victory in your personal life. She became a mother. According to the gymnast, the happiness of this victory is more valuable to her than all previously won ones. She is called a clone of Uma Thurman, capable of attacking anyone who encroaches on the assessment and analysis of her performance. And in response she just smiles sweetly and says: “I became a mother, and this is above all awards.” After the birth of the child, Svetlana truly became calmer and more reasonable, she felt like a mother. Sveta gave birth to a child in one of the clinics in Los Angeles. Khorkina's son will be a US citizen. According to American laws, any child born in this country becomes one. However, upon reaching adulthood, the young man will be able to choose Russian citizenship. - Sveta, today is sport only sport or politics too? How do athletes’ successes depend on the situation in world politics? - It's all together. If we take artistic gymnastics, we must admit that we are always judged, forced out, and not given freedom in terms of refereeing. Although the strength and victories are obvious. The last Olympics confirmed this once again. - Were you sued? - Yes, in all-around. The all-around competition is 4 events, where the number of points is summed up and the winner is revealed. After the first round, they didn’t give me a score for about 15 minutes. At least they would have been embarrassed to judge me right away. The fraud was obvious. There was practically no difference between how I and the American Carly Patterson performed. But I’m from Russia, and she’s from the USA, that’s the whole answer. - The American press accused you of slandering judges. Say, you accused them of stupidity, bias and bribery? “I’m not the only one who blamed them for this.” - It's a shame, perhaps? Or were you ready for such a turn?
- It’s no longer offensive, I’m used to this kind of attitude towards our athletes. Victories were always given to me with blood, I literally snatched them out. - You are among the ten most attractive gymnasts in the world, according to one American magazine. - I read that I became fifth in the list of owners of beautiful legs among gymnasts. But this is not a sporting achievement. Yes, by and large, I don’t care whose legs are there. It would be better for Americans to take a closer look at the professional qualities of athletes. - What should a potential gymnast candidate have? - There must be an appropriate body structure, a twinkle in the eyes. - Did you also have the listed qualities? - No. I was the complete opposite of all these requirements. But I had a great coach. I was tall, and my height was suitable for rhythmic gymnastics, but not for sports. They told me that I would break down and not be able to withstand the stress. They say I’m tall and fragile, I have little strength. To be honest, I really had little strength. My mother sent me to gymnastics because I was an active, nimble, playful girl, but I often suffered from acute respiratory infections.
- Tell me, can you “make” a champion out of any child? - We need to give everyone a chance to practice and try. - Sveta, since you gave birth, has your lifestyle and daily routine changed? - Yes, I stopped working (laughs). I have worked all my life and I don’t understand how you can live without working. But now my child compensates for all this. - What is your boy's name? - Svyatoslav. Although initially there were three variants of the name - Svyatoslav, Vyacheslav and Stanislav. I believe that whatever you name your child, that’s how he will go through life. They named me Svetlana because I was born fair. Thank God, my present is bright, I hope my future will be like that too. - You are so small and fragile, and the child was born, let’s say, not small. - I swam in the pool and walked until the last day. I ate everything healthy. I'm not a vegetarian. She ate cottage cheese and fermented milk products, fish, and added vitamins to her food. - Who helps you? - All by myself, but my mother comes for the weekend. - Are you coping? - Certainly! You know, it's such a thrill to tinker with a child. When you bathe him, change his diapers, feed him, when you see him every second. He is completely different all the time. I'm just blown away by the very thought that I'm a mother. - What are you dreaming about? - You won't believe it. I dream that I am training in the gym. My friends tell me that I am subconsciously preparing myself to return to sports. But I do not want! - Categorically? - Categorically. Now I will live only for the child and myself. - And when he grows up, will you return to sports? - No, I’m giving birth to a second one. And so on until the passion for gymnastics finally fades away (laughs). I always told myself that if I didn’t give birth to a child, I would never leave the sport. After all, before the birth of a child, sport was the only meaning of life for me. But I gave birth, and therefore goodbye, all the apparatus and the Olympics. I was in professional sports for many years and always prayed to God to give me a child.
This is great happiness! You know, before the baby was born, I was in Karelia on business, and there they showed me a tree with an ear cut out of it. So, I had to whisper my wish into this ear, and, as the locals assured me, it would certainly come true. Naturally, I wished that someday I would become a mother. The ear heard me and conveyed my desire to heaven! - Sveta, who is the father of the child? - Naturally, in the process of conceiving a child, the presence of a man is necessary. My child has a father, but I don’t want to make his name public. - The press attributed paternity to the husband of Vera Glagoleva and actor Levani Uchanishvili... - So what, two at once (laughs)? You know, the yellow press sometimes writes things that make you wonder. The case with paternity is from the same category. Levani and I are great friends, he is a very good person. - What surname will your son have? - Khorkin. - What about your middle name? - I'll tell you about this later. - Tell me, are you married? - Of course not. - Are you going to? - You know, man proposes, but God disposes. I am a believer and I will say this: everything is God’s will. - Sveta, was there some event that preceded the desire to have a child? - I understood that I was already getting old. I read various literature where it was written that it is advisable for a woman to give birth to children before the age of 30. And since I want more children, I need to do it before I turn 30.
- Will you give birth to a second child from the same man as the first? - First you need to conceive a child (laughs). Don't know. Maybe from the same thing, or maybe from another. - Sveta, who are your parents? - Father Vasily Vasilyevich is a calibration operator at the enterprise. Mom Lyubov Alekseevna is a nurse of the first category, works in a kindergarten. She treats vision for preschool children. My sister is finishing her fifth year at the Faculty of Physical Culture and Sports at Belgorod University. She holds the title of Master of Sports in gymnastics. - Will you initiate your son into professional sports? - Probably not. Perhaps for general development. Like all women, Sveta loves to dress well and look fashionable at social events, so when she often travels around the world, she tries to buy branded clothes. “I love unique things that immediately attract attention at social events,” says Sveta. After all, I am a young, beautiful, unmarried woman, so I should always look great. I was recently in Italy and decided to go shopping, but I couldn’t find anything interesting. Everything looked somehow expressionless on me. And I returned to Moscow with just one skinny suitcase. True, the beauty of Italian landscapes, in contrast to fashion stores, impressed me and reconciled me with Italian reality. I was also shown from a distance the villa of Andrei Shevchenko, whom we, however, are not yet familiar with. However, I think we will still meet sooner or later at some sporting event. Svetlana has many favorite branded clothes, for example: DSquared2, D&G, GF Ferre, Chanel. Now Svetlana is actively engaged in her book, she is writing an autobiography and her mother helps her a lot with this. This is a book about big sport, how it breaks people, how it can be unfair and how the system fails. In 2004, Svetlana Khorkina applied for the position of president of the Artistic Gymnastics Federation, but did not get literally 6 votes, and Yuri Titov became president, in turn, he invited her to become vice president. The great gymnast Svetlana Khorkina fell off the uneven bars, thereby losing the 13th gold medal, no matter how annoying it may sound, but it happened like that, she fell, got up and left the program without waiting for her grades. Khorkina left big sport, leaving the podium of the queen of artistic gymnastics empty. She left without saying a word, without shedding a single tear.
Now the main thing for Sveta is life after big sport. The ordinary human life of a beautiful woman who dreams of a husband, a home and raising a son. She opened her own gymnastics school to teach athletes to combine technique and artistry, which, no matter how hard they tried, the Americans never achieved. The school is already functioning, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin even came there for a visit, he was taken around the entire sports complex, he even talked with the young Olympians. 2008

She is not only a famous gymnast. Svetlana Khorkina is also a television journalist, politician, book author, actor, shooter, scientist, officer, singer and outspoken fashion model. Doesn't sound very plausible? However, all this is true. Read an article about the life of an outstanding athlete - an athlete about whom films began to be made!

Gymnastics - from four years old

Nothing foreshadowed such an extraordinary fate. Svetlana was born on January 19, 1979 in the family of a worker and a nurse, in quiet Belgorod. At the age of four, the girl became seriously ill, and to improve her health she was sent to the gymnastics section. In youth competitions, Sveta invariably took first place, and at the age of thirteen she became a member of the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team. At seventeen, Khorkina was already waiting - Atlanta!

Success

After the failure at the 1992 Olympics, our gymnasts desperately needed medals! Svetlana became a medalist in both the team all-around and the uneven bars competition. From that time on, parallel bars became Khorkina’s “horse,” although at first they doubted this success. Why?

Before Khorkina, uneven bars competitions were the realm of Chinese women. It was believed that only girls 150 centimeters tall could count on winning here. Are there many Russian athletes with such dimensions? Svetlana, with her 164 centimeters, seemed like a giant against this background. At first, the coach didn’t want to practice parallel bars with her! The girl was saved by her hard work and amazing stubbornness. It ended with the two of them and their coach developing innovative techniques for “tall” gymnasts. Svetlana’s original numbers amazed the audience: the girl managed to turn her weaknesses into strengths.

In Atlanta (1996), she won gold for her performances on the uneven bars and silver in the team all-around. Khorkina had been the Russian champion since 1993, the European champion since 1994. And there were two more Olympics ahead: Sydney and Athens.

In total, Svetlana had seven Olympic medals, and two of them were gold. Khorkina became world champion nine times and European champion thirteen times. Her successes in performances on the uneven bars became especially significant: there was not a year without gold medals. Svetlana deservedly began to be called the “Queen of the parallel bars.”

And sorrows

Khorkina's path to victory was not paved with roses. The artistic, talented and amazingly efficient gymnast still had weaknesses. Svetlana is an emotional and vulnerable person. Failures, and especially injustice, easily infuriated the girl. The scandal with the jumping horse at the Sydney Olympics became very famous. Contrary to the rules, the horse was lowered by 5 centimeters due to someone's negligence or malicious intent. The girl tried to object, but her complaint was ignored. Because of her lowered horse, Anastasia jumped poorly. Then the jump was allowed to be repeated, but the athlete was so upset that she “failed” part of the performance and left in tears. She had to give interviews to journalists wearing dark glasses so that TV viewers would not see red eyes.

Svetlana turned out to be an unusually “long-lived” athlete. During the Sydney Games she was already 21 years old - a very respectable age for gymnasts. Khorkina went to Athens at the age of 25. It seemed like this was the limit! Svetlana managed to win silver and bronze here, but she failed the competition on her favorite uneven bars.

After the Olympics in Athens, Svetlana Khorkina announced the end of her sports career.

Is there life after sports?

After leaving sports, Khorkina’s life became even more eventful and interesting. The multiple champion remained a celebrity. At the same time, the young woman had the opportunity to take care of her personal life and arrange her female happiness.

However, not everything was smooth here at first. Although a year after the official end of her career, in 2005, she became a mother, Khorkina carefully concealed who the father of her son Svyatoslav was, repeatedly declaring that she gave birth to a child “for herself.” For some time, many thought that Khorkin would become a couple - Kirill Shubsky, who was credited with paternity thanks to Svetlana’s autobiographical book “Somersault in Heels,” did not divorce his wife (Vera Glagoleva), so Khorkina’s personal life still remained a secret.

And only 6 years later the athlete decided to stop hiding. In 2011, at the Russian Association of Stuntmen, Svetlana Khorkina made her first official appearance with her husband, FSB General Oleg Kochnov.

In the photo: Svetlana Khorkina with her husband Oleg Kochnov

Svetlana knows how to manage time. She has a rule: get up at exactly seven o'clock every day, even if it is a holiday or a day off. This is probably why the former athlete managed to successfully perform in many roles.

Like many other honored athletes, Svetlana actively takes part in the social and political life of the country.

She was elected as a State Duma deputy from the United Russia party, a member of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, and vice-president of the Artistic Gymnastics Federation. In addition, Khorkina successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis and also received the military rank of captain (since she played for the CSK Air Force). Now she dreams of becoming a major and has an unusual hobby for a figure skater - shooting with military weapons.

The Olympic champion wrote books dedicated to gymnastics (“Somersault in heels” and “Gymnastics for body and soul”) and published a disc with her songs, for some time she was the host of the TV show “Home.” Svetlana also tried herself on stage: in the play “ Venus" Theater named after. Mossovet she managed to successfully play the main role. In her youth, Khorkina agreed to appear in a very explicit manner for Playboy magazine.

These are the different facets of the personality of the gymnast, whose performances constituted a glorious page in our sport.

Svetlana Khorkina is one of the main characters in the recently filmed film “Champions: Faster. Higher. Stronger". The role of Khorkina was played by Christina Asmus, who herself was a former gymnast and is now a successful actress and young mother. A sports background, diet and self-discipline are the main secrets: she looks incredibly organic in the role of the slender Khorkina - the trailer for the film convincingly proves this.

The film "Champions: Faster. Higher. Stronger" will be released in February 2016.