World champion Svetlana Khorkina yesterday confirmed in an interview with Sovietski Sport that she is determined to continue in gymnastics despite her acting ambitions. Khorkina is to appear on stage in Moscow in a play directed by Sergei Vinogradov as Brandy Venus, the last love of writer Henry Miller. The Belgorod native stated that she has been taking speech and voice classes while keeping up with her daily regime of work outs with the Russian team at Round Lake.

"I am still training under the guidance of my coach Boris Pilkin", said Khorkina, "at the beginning of March I will show my new floor routine, which I have prepared for the European Championships, to the audience during the traditional "Stars of the World" tournament." According to the 23-year-old, she and her choreographer have called the routine "I close my eyes", it even has something to do with the play: "Like Brandy, who closes her eyes to Miller's age of 84, I am closing my eyes to my age, which is critical in gymnastics."

Masha