She’s a Tough Act to Follow in a Sport That’s Not So Genteel

Just because they have sparkles in their hair and braces on their teeth doesn’t mean those little gymnasts aren’t tough.

It’s a demanding sport. Take the U.S. women’s squad. Courtney Kupets tore an Achilles’ tendon in practice Tuesday, and Annia Hatch blew out her knee while landing a vault last Saturday.

Carly Patterson competed all week while bothered by an elbow bone she broke in the spring, the type of grit that would fill two shelves’ worth of reels at NFL Films.

There were enough Ace bandages around the Arrowhead Pond Friday night to make the Mighty Ducks look like wimps.

And the most demanding toll of a sport that slams bodies against balance beams and pounds ankles with 8-foot drops off the uneven parallel bars is the mental strain.

Patterson had to wait close to three minutes Friday before she was cleared for takeoff on the vault, the event that would determine whether she won the gold medal.

Can you imagine golfers standing over a 12-foot putt that long? There’s no way their nerves would hold out.

The stomach tightened, the heart started pounding. And that’s just how I was feeling.

There’s nothing as difficult to watch as women’s gymnastics. The most excruciating event I ever covered was the women’s individuals at the 1996 Olympics. It was like watching a horse race in which all the losers broke their legs.

All these girls know is gymnastics. They get up early in the morning to train. Many of them move away from home to train. You wonder how much joy is involved when Patterson says things such as, “I just do my job. Whatever happens, happens.”

They miss ice cream, dating, the prom -- all the everyday parts of adolescent life -- to prepare for these moments, and all of that work can be undone with a stumble on a dismount or a wobble on the balance beam.

I watched girls slip and fall and run off crying into the arms of their coaches. All around the press area the sportswriters who usually cover football and boxing were cringing.

On the way out I bumped into Nadia Comaneci, Miss Perfect 10 herself.

“All of this pressure ... how could you stand it?” I asked her.

She just shrugged her shoulders and said, “Eh.”

As if it were no big deal.

That’s the attitude it takes to record a perfect score in the Olympics, or to enjoy any success at all. You have to be impervious to all of the outside expectations, blissfully ignorant of how much truly is at stake. With that in mind, it was clear who would win the women’s world all-around title before the final event started.

As the competitors warmed up, 15-year-old American Chellsie Memmel’s face couldn’t quite shake the disappointment of her misadventures on the balance beam, where she slipped her way to an 8.875 that took her out of medal contention.

Patterson looked excited, a bit eager even, as she realized that the gold could be hers if she nailed her vault.

Svetlana Khorkina showed no emotion at all as she prepared for her floor exercise. Just an icy stare.

After she flubbed a landing in a practice run she allowed herself a smirk. It was as if this glitch in the software amused her. When it was money time, she performed an elegant routine that drew a rousing cheer from the crowd and a score of 9.675 from the judges.

“She’s like an actress,” Patterson said.

Yeah. She’s Kristanna Loken playing the part of the T-X in “Terminator 3.” Silent, robotic and relentlessly effective.

It’s not as if she’s incapable of showing emotion. She burst into tears and hugged her coach after she found out she won. Her eyes were moist and her lips quivered as she stood on the medal stand and listened to the national anthem. And the tears welled up again when she was asked about her legacy.

At 24 years old -- ancient in the gymnastics world -- she knows that these World Championships and next year’s Olympics are her last great performances on the international stage.

“I am so sorry, but I know I have to finish sometime,” she said in English.

She also spoke a little French in addition to her native Russian during the news conference, so she’s well rounded.

When she wants to, Khorkina oozes personality. She coyly bobbed her head and gave an evasive smile when asked how she would celebrate her victory. (Unlike most of the competitors, she is of legal drinking age in the United States.) Finally she said, “I go to Long Beach.”

Uh, Svetlana, surely you can do better than that.

She just made history, becoming the first gymnast to win three individual world all-around titles. Khorkina literally stands tall above the rest of the competition. (One of her legs is the height of sixth-place finisher Oana Ban.)

And after reigning supreme in a sport that crunches bones and makes knees weak, there’s only one way to describe her: the toughest.

J.A. Adande can be reached at

j.a.adande@latimes.com.