And the Olympic Games bring a higher proportion of melodramatic failures than any other event in sport ever could. 10,000-plus competitors, there is a fair old scope for disaster. She was told once, because she is 5ft 5in, to give up and become a rhythmic gymnast - that is, the sport where you twirl a ribbon on a stick and prink about. And that is totally against Khorkina s nature. With her height problem, Khorkina is always flying pretty close to the sun, and her wings have been scorched in two nights of humiliation.
Humiliation is a harder thing to rise above than mere misfortune.
But on Sunday night, Khorkina flew. Lord, how she pouted on that podium.