Ghent, Belgium – Russian Svetlana Khorkina, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, earned her second world all-around title at the 2001 World Gymnastics Championships today with a score of 37.617.
Russian teammate Natalia Ziganshiva earned the silver with 37.305. Andreea Raducan of Romania won bronze with 36.949.
Americans Tasha Schwikert and Tabitha Yim had a very solid evening, earning fifth and seventh place respectively with 36.881 and 36.680. Mohini Bhardwaj finished eighteenth with 35.036.
“I am so excited I got fifth place, but yet I looked at the scoreboard and was less than a tenth away from medaling. That’s disappointing, but I’m still very pleased,” said Schwikert. “It was so awesome to win the bronze medal as a team too. This has been an amazing experience for all of us.”
“I am really happy with where I finished,” said Yim. “I wasn’t really expecting anything so this is great. I didn’t feel much pressure out there. I just wanted to hit four for four and see what happened. I was pretty nervous the whole meet. Our motto is ‘no excuses, no regrets’, so I gave it my all and look what happened.”
The World Gymnastics Championships wrap-up Saturday and Sunday with event finals competition. Bhardwaj and Miles will compete vault and Heenan will compete uneven bars Saturday. On Sunday, Schwikert competes both beam and floor. Tidd will also compete beam and Yim will compete floor.