RUSSIA: RUSSIAN GYMNAST SVETLANA KHORKINA DEBUTS IN THE HENRY MILLER PLAY "VENUS" IN MOSCOW

Record ID: 645629

  • Title: RUSSIA: RUSSIAN GYMNAST SVETLANA KHORKINA DEBUTS IN THE HENRY MILLER PLAY "VENUS" IN MOSCOW
  • Date: 1st December 2002
  • Summary: KHORKINA AND OTHER ACTORS PERFORMING IN PLAY
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Arts,General,People,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA8QHGK0B8R2JG1JG8RJ346A50L
  • Story Text: Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina finished out of the medals in last month's world championships in Hungary. But the former Olympic gold medalist says she plans to take part in international competitions for at least another two years.
    And she has set her sights on conquering a new stage - she recently debuted in a Henry Miller play staged at a Moscow playhouse.
    Khorkina's debut was described by some Moscow critics as the most awaited event of the fall theatrical season.
    Khorkina has has already won over the gymnastics world with performances that critics have described as "innovative"
    and "magnetic."
    The numerous world and European champion keeps up a rigorous daily training schedule which she hopes will lead to her second gold medal at what will be her third Olympic Games in 2004.
    And, at the same time, she is playing the lead female role in "Venus"--a play based on the passionate love affair that controversial American writer Henry Miller had with a young actress in the last years of his life.
    It is a racy role, entirely appropriate for Khorkina, the first Russian star gymnast to pose for Playboy and whose love interests are perennial subjects of interest for Moscow gossip papers.
    The play's director, Sergei Vinogradov, said that he had sought out Khorkina for this role.
    "I needed a very unique woman for this role. I needed someone who would not play the role, but lived it. Someone from another world. I needed someone not from the usual circle of actors, no matter how interesting or talented. I searched a long time for her and found her in 1996 when I was watching the Olympic Games in Atlanta on television. I saw her winning her first Olympic medal and I was struck by how she moved with artistry and freedom. I saw that she had natural-born talents as an actress," said Vinogradov.
    For Khorkina, combining the acting world with her regular practices has been a gruelling experience.
    "When I train, I work very strong and my body becomes very tired. It is physical work. In the theatre, my muscles relax and I replace the physical work out with a mental work out.
    Of course, I become very tired [from training and rehearsing], but it doesn't kill me. If a person wants, then he or she can do very much in one day."
    Khorkina will not have to combine the two roles for long.
    She says that this play is a trial for a possible career as an actress that she may begin after the 2004 Olympic games in Athens.
    The 23-year-old Khorkina describes herself as the "babushka" - grandmother in Russian - of gymnastics, a sport dominated by increasingly younger talent. But she is determined to hold off for at least two more years.
    Khorkina was recently honoured at a Moscow award ceremony, where the city's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, presented her with a medal for "glory of Russian sport".
    But her performance at the world championships in Hungary last month was anything but glorious. In what turned out to be the shock of the championships, Khorkina, who had looked in fine form during two qualifying rounds, finished seventh out of the eight finalists.
    "This world cup was not triumphant (for me) but smooth enough and I am saving my energy and gearing up ahead of next year's World championships in Los Angeles. It's very important (event) before the Olympics. And it (the next world chamiponships) is going to be tough because it is being staged in the United States," said Khorkina.
    Depending on her form in Los Angeles next year, Khorkina may decide it is time to bow out of competition, after a long and mostly successful career.
    She maybe the "grandmother" of gymnastics, but she is still in her first youth for an actress, and Khorkina's next promising career may be only at the very beginning.
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