Posted Sunday, August 8, 2004; 11.13BST
Svetlana Khorkina's dominance will be challenged by a clutch of strong Olympic newcomers in Athens. Brazilian pocket powerhouse Daiane dos Santos, 21, is brilliant in the floor exercises; Fan Ye, 17, of China, is a marvel on the balance beam. But the star turn could come from the luminous Romanian Catalina Ponor. Last year, despite having only recently fought her way into the Romanian team, Ponor earned silver medals on the floor and balance beam at the 2003 world championships; at May's 2004 European championships, she nabbed gold on the same two apparatuses. Olympic gold medals are the logical next step. "I am ambitious," says Ponor simply. "And I usually accomplish what I wish for."
Ponor, who turns 17 this month, learned her craft early. As a child, she used to supplement her training by practicing in the narrow hallway of her grandmother's house in Constantsa in eastern Romania, which her family says helped develop her proficiency on the balance beam. Says Matei Stanei, a former competitive gymnast who was Ponor's coach for 11 years: "After two years of training, I realized that she had what it took to be a gymnast. After five years, I told everybody that she would become the leader of the Romanian team."
Should Ponor triumph, she will be fulfilling a lifelong ambition for both herself and her mother, Carmen Barbascu, who as a young woman was forced to give up her own dreams of gymnastic success to focus on her education. If her daughter wins, says Barbascu, "I will cry for a week."
— Reported by Mihai Radu and Jan Stojaspal/Constantsa
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