Career of Svetlana Khorkina
Sveta was a sickly girl, and her mother, a doctor, decided that playing sports would be useful for her. So four-year-old Sveta came to the gymnastics section. By the way, Svetlana Khorkina’s younger sister Yulia is also a master of sports, also in artistic gymnastics (now she still lives in Belgorod and runs a sports institution).
Sports style icon
At the age of 11, Svetlana already joined the USSR youth artistic gymnastics team, and since 1992 she has become a member of the Russian national team in this sport.
Lights in the center
Then her sports career went steadily uphill. At the 1994 championships in Brisbane, she won silver on both uneven bars and vault. That same year, Khorkina took gold and silver at the European Championships.
Together with the team, Svetlana goes to the Goodwill Games, and in 1995, at the European Cup, Khorkina won several medals, but the cherry on the cake was gold in the final, obtained on the uneven bars, with a score of 9.90.
Khorkina on balance beam
Then there was gold on the uneven bars in Atlanta, during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Then she received the title of absolute world champion after performing in Lausanne, Switzerland.. And at the 1999 European Championships she confirmed the title of world champion for the fourth time.
In 2000, at the Olympics in Australia, Svetlana fell off the uneven bars, and the Russian team won silver, although it was at these competitions that the athlete performed a difficult jump, called Khorkina II. Svetlana Khorkina manages to retain the title of Olympic champion on uneven bars for several years.
From 1995 to 2001, our gymnast won all the titles of the World Championships and Olympic Games on uneven bars, and at the World Championships in Anaheim, Khorkina became the absolute champion for the third time - no other woman has achieved this.
And in 2004 she was the best at the Olympics, the last in her sports career. In general, Svetlana stopped performing in 2004, at the same time becoming vice-president of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation. After school, Svetlana entered the sports department of BelSU and received a diploma as a physical education teacher, and at the age of 23 she defended her Ph.D. thesis. Svetlana has another diploma - graduating from RANEPA. She is a member of United Russia and was a State Duma deputy (5th convocation).
Khorkin and Kabaev in the State Duma
Svetlana Khorkina is a lieutenant colonel (reserve), since 2020 she has been the first deputy head of the Federal Institution of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation “Central Sports Club of the Army”. Awarded by many states. awards and certificates of honor. The athlete’s name star is on the Olympic Walk of Fame at the Rosa Khutor resort.
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all posts by the author I had the opportunity to travel around the world and visit different parts of our country. I can't stop admiring Russia, its lakes and forests, mountains and seas. My hobbies include hunting and fishing. Especially fishing, especially winter! I think this is a wonderful active holiday.
I like to travel and get to know new countries. In any of my travels there is always such an item as tasting national cuisine. I definitely go to national restaurants and try national cuisine, although my favorite is still Russian.
I can ski well, and I also explore the depths of the sea - I go diving from time to time.
My favorite numbers are 1 - because since childhood I decided to be the first in everything, 7 - simply because I like it, and 9 is part of my birthday number, I was born on January 19th.
Despite the fact that I have worked a lot since childhood, I believe that a woman should remain a woman and be the keeper of the home. That’s why I know how to cook; my husband’s signature dishes are okroshka and Olivier salad.
From the age of 4 I was engaged in gymnastics, since then there has not been a single day that I did not work, did not work. I don’t like parasites and those who live at other people’s expense.
I can keep secrets, although this is probably rare for a woman. I am a faithful friend, I hate deceit and deceit. I’m not ready to go on reconnaissance with everyone, but many will go with me.
Since childhood, I dreamed of becoming an Olympic champion, and I succeeded. Then I dreamed that I would have a son - and a son was born. I wanted to build a house - I built it, I wanted a movie to be made - in February of this year the film “Champions: Faster” was released. Higher. Stronger". Everything I dreamed about is coming true. I hope this continues! Now I really want our artistic gymnastics team, especially the women, to win gold in the team championship in the near future. I also dream of opening my own school, the Khorkina Academy of Artistic Gymnastics. But dreams are dreams, but you have to work - so we will work and make our dreams come true.
When I was doing gymnastics as a child, I really wanted to get more information about my idols. I remember when my mother bought me books about our champions Nelly Kim and Lyudmila Turishcheva, I read them to pieces. After all, every time I had questions regarding training, I always found the answers to them in books. Growing up, I promised myself that when I became an Olympic champion, I would definitely write a book in which I would answer the boys and girls following in my footsteps: how to overcome fear and pain, how to overcome yourself in order to reach the Olympic peak. And this dream also came true - I published 2 books, and I plan to re-release one of them soon.
For 17 years now, an all-Russian tournament for the prizes of Svetlana Khorkina has been taking place in Belgorod, in which many children become participants. I am very proud of this tournament; it is bright, beautiful and famous in sports circles, and has a federal format. Many children come to my competitions from all over Russia and even from abroad. This year there was a record number of 850 participants. I wish us all to keep it up! I am convinced that if we, Olympic champions, hold our competitions and master classes as often as possible, and media representatives talk about young talents, then future champions will have additional motivation to go to victory!
Khorkina Svetlana and Kirill Shubsky
A successful sports biography and a personal life that was not always smooth - this was Khorkina’s fate. Svetlana did not advertise the name of her lover, but pregnancy is not something that can be hidden, and when the baby bump became noticeable to others, everyone began to wonder who the father of the child was.
At first they thought about actor Levan Uchaneishvili, who did not try to dispel doubts, even played along with Svetlana.
Levan and Svetlana
But the truth emerged: unexpectedly for everyone, billionaire Kirill Shubsky became Svetlana’s chosen one. The piquancy of the situation was that Shubsky was married to the famous Vera Glagoleva, an actress and director, and they had a four-year-old daughter, Nastenka.
Shubsky and Svetlana with their son
Kirill saw a beautiful girl at a competition and never missed another one with her participation. This went on for 7 years. In an interview at that time, Svetlana said:
"Much water has flown under the bridge since that time. I believe that personal life should remain for personal use. So as not to scare away happiness. I love decent and honest men. For me, the bitter truth is better than a sweet lie. I don't like it when people lie to me. The man said, the man did. I try not to lie to anyone myself.”
But as soon as Khorkina became pregnant and decided to give birth, the billionaire abandoned her, although he promised to support the child financially.
Svetlana and Svyatoslav
However, Shubsky did not immediately recognize his son Svyatoslav, born in the USA in 2005.
“I was told that I should go as far as possible and not tell anyone about my pregnancy. I didn't understand why it had to be this way. And yet she agreed. I reasoned: probably, during childbirth in America, I would receive more professional help than here. Today I understand that this is nonsense - in our country there are also excellent clinics and doctors ... "
Shubsky’s betrayal became a difficult test for Svetlana:
“I don’t regret what happened in my life before, it all went into the treasury of life experience. Thanks to him, by the way, I am already able to distinguish lies from truth and understand what the real attitude of a man to a woman is. And now I’ve learned that, it turns out, you can do things for the sake of your loved one and treat them with care and respect.”
Glagoleva learned about her husband’s betrayal and was deeply affected by this tragedy. Vera recently died from a serious illness, and many thought that Shubsky would return to Khorkina, but Svetlana had already married an FSB general.
The Champion's Path
The Olympics became a new goal for Svetlana Khorkina. After intensive treatment, she began to train and prepare to climb Olympus. In 1996, Atlanta welcomed her. This Olympics became extremely successful for the gymnast, as Khorkina received a gold medal in the uneven bars category. She also brought home a silver medal for her performance in the team championship. So, already at the age of seventeen, the biography of Svetlana Khorkina contained a record of victory in the Olympic Games.
It would seem that, having reached the highest goal, the girl could stop and take a break. But rest is not for Khorkina. Although she tried to return to her homeland and start studying at a university, she quickly became bored with such a life, and the gymnast again went to the capital.
After a long time of working on herself, Khorkina decides to conquer the Olympics again. This time she goes to Sydney. By the 2000 Olympic Games, the girl was twenty-one years old and her level of training was the highest. It would seem that victory was already in Khorkina’s pocket, but all optimism dissipated after the gymnast seriously hurt her knee during one of the training sessions. The cause of this trouble was an incorrectly installed projectile. Despite all the problems, Khorkina still performed well and retained her championship in the uneven bars category. After the victory, the girl immediately announced that she was absolutely going to take Olympic gold for the third time.
The year 2001 became significant in the biography of Svetlana Khorkina. This year the gymnast achieved the title of absolute champion at the World Championships. It is worth noting that in the period from 1995 to 2001, Khorkina won absolutely all the championships in which she took part. During these years, Svetlana Khorkina simply did not have a personal life. All her strength was directed towards sports and achieving results.
In 2003, Khorkina again became the winner of the World Cup, making her the world's first three-time champion. Then Khorkina performed at the Olympics in Athens. This time she failed to take gold. Perhaps the reason was excessive self-confidence, or maybe age. The gymnast was able to reach the finals and decided to end her sports career forever.
Svetlana Khorkina and Oleg Kochnev
Oleg Kochnev is more than 20 years older than Svetlana, but this did not stop the young woman from marrying him in 2011 and finding family happiness. Svetlana’s parents were not very happy about their son-in-law, who was the same age, but he managed to convince them that he would not only be a good husband to their daughter, but also a father to Svyatoslav.
Khorkina with Oleg Kochnev
Oleg Anatolyevich served for many years in the FSB, then he was an assistant to the governor of the Amur Region, and now works in the Representative Office of the Amur Region under the President and Government of the Russian Federation. In the fall of 2020, the couple had a son, Ivan. Svetlana considers herself very lucky to have a loving and devoted husband.
Personal life
The personal life of Svetlana Khorkina has always been under the close attention of journalists. For a long time they did not know what to cling to. And suddenly, in 2005, the whole world learned about the birth of her first child, Svyatoslav.
The media immediately spread the news that the former athlete gave birth to a son in America. There was no information about the boy's father, so the journalists decided that he was Levan Uchaneishvili.
Later, new rumors appeared about a boy with American citizenship. According to media reports, the baby was born as a result of the union of Svetlana Khorkina and Kirill Shubsky. The man was the official husband of Vera Glagoleva, so many took this assumption as a rumor. Svetlana Khorkina and Kirill Shubsky, in turn, refuse to comment on this situation. It is worth noting that in her book “Somersaults in Heels,” Khorkina absolutely accurately spells out the name of her son’s father and calls him Kirill. Now conversations on this topic have faded significantly. The fact is that in 2011, Svetlana Khorkina’s personal life became much more defined. The former athlete married General Oleg Kochnov. Svetlana Khorkina would like to have two children, but so far she only has a son.
