Athens - Russian gymnastics diva Svetlana Khorkina was furious with the judges who condemned her to a second-place finish behind 16-year-old American Carly Patterson in the battle for the Olympic all-around gold medal on Thursday.
Patterson concluded the event with the highest score on floor exercise, a 9.712, to finish at 38.387 points with Khorkina, a three-time world all-around champion, second at 38.211 and China's Zhang Nan third at 37.948.
"I don't know what to say. I'm so excited and happy," Patterson said. "You dream about this your whole life and you win the gold medal and it's amazing."
Khorkina, who edged Patterson for the World Championships all-around crown last year, was denied a long-sought gold just two days before her planned retirement from the sport following the Olympic uneven bars final.
Crowd-favourite Khorkina, whose first words to the press were: "I'm still Olympic champion," expressed her unhappiness at the scoring several times.
"If the judges were Greek I would have no difficulty winning the gold medal," Khorkina said. "They are the ones who are going to have to live with their conscience."
Khorkina, 25, was leading in the third rotation when she made a slip on the balance beam and received a 9.462.
"I believe it was a minor mistake. It was barely noticable," Khorkina said. "I don't think it was worth one point."
Asked what made the difference in her duel with Patterson, Khorkina replied, "I'm from Russia. She's from USA," then stuck out her tongue and went "Pfffft." She later added. "Just a joke. Carly is very good."
Khorkina, who would have been the first non-teen to win the Olympic all-around crown since 1968, claimed her first Olympic medal in the event, a wide smile crossing her face as the medal was placed around her neck.
Patterson became only the second American woman to win an all-around Olympic title, joining Mary Lou Retton at the boycott-diminished 1984 Olympics.
"I think this is even more precious a result," said US team coordinator Martha Karolyi, who along with husband Bela coached Retton to gold.
"It just means a whole lot," Patterson said. "I worked all my life to be an Olympic champion. All my hard work has finally paid off."
Patterson led Khorkina by 0.026 of a point entering the final floor rotation. Patterson performed last but Khorkina, who went four spots earlier based on qualifying scores, was the 2000 Olympic floor runner-up.
Khorkina showed creative flair and solid tumbling moves in a conservative routine that had the crowd clapping the musical beat but only produced a 9.562 mark from judges, leaving her first at 38.211 but vulnerable to Patterson.
As the marks appeared, Khorkina glanced up, then looked down, nodded her head and tightened her lips, a grim visage that seemed to fear the worst.
Patterson performed a near-flawless floor routine, scoring a 9.712 that brought tears of joy as she hugged coach Yevgeny Marchenko.
