The reigning European all-around champion Viktoria Listunova competed in her first individual final at the Olympics yesterday. However, her floor routine did not go well from the start when she went out of bounds on her first pass and had a fall later in the routine. Listunova, understandably, was visibly upset in the arena and asked not to talk to journalists after the competition. Despite already winning European, junior World, and Olympic golds, Listunova is only 16 years old and the Olympics are her second senior international competition. However, Svetlana Khorkina, after praising Listunova, said it is not fitting for an Olympic champion to cry in public:
“Viktoria Listunova burst into tears but she’s still young. First of all, she’s being upset with herself. Such a mistake from a young gymnast can be forgiven, she saved the Russian team on beam in the team competition – she didn’t flinch after our experienced athletes made mistakes. Listunova had a great beam routine and with this she helped to stay in the first place. It was very hard to do mentally.”
“Yes, she burst into tears [today] but you can’t cry on the competition floor. If she wants me to, I’ll tell her when she comes back that you have to look very strong, confident, in short, like a queen on the competition floor. You should only cry in a place without cameras and millions of eyes. She already has fans, she’s an idol for many. As an Olympic champion, you cannot allow yourself to cry.”
During her career, Khorkina did not exactly practice what she preaches now – she was known for emotional behavior on the competition floor, including crying.
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