Broken bones in her right hand may mean a premature end to Maja Hribar's competitive season, but her spirit goes on. The injury reduced Hribar's performance to two apparatus only at the Šiška International, held in the sports complex she trains in. Despite watering down her programme, she relished the opportunity: "The competition was great! Especially because it was in front of the home crowd. The atmosphere was fine and I felt really good", Hribar told Gymworld. And the audience felt really good during her routines. Before, during and after the competition, the 16-year-old was the star of the floor show. "We have been getting a lot of calls and emails asking about Maja", states Poljanka Pavletic from Hribar's Šiška Gim Klub - and even nbb himself claims her to be the most expressive gymnast on floor since Khorkina. Her 15th place in the all-around competition at this year's European Championships in Patras was a best for her country's women's programme and earned her valuable airtime on Eurosport, a pan-European sports channel.

While competing beam and floor, she did not yet realise the full scale of the injury, which she sustained preparing for the Glasgow World Cup. "I twisted my finger when I placed my hand badly on the vaulting table The doctors said that one of the small bones in my hand was fractured." She continued training after returning from Glasgow to prepare for the Šiška tournament. "I trained for a whole week and than competed with that hand, but I felt pain, so I worked easier routines. Immediately after the competition my coach Mitija Samardžija took me to the hospital for an x-ray and the doctor said that the bone was broken now. The fourth bone in my hand is broken and two bones have been shifted a millimetre." The pain did not stop her from debuting her expressive new floor routine that captivated the spectators.

The untimely break will make Hribar miss the Individual World Championships in Debrecen. Is she disappointed at the missed opportunity? "Well, yes and no. Yes, because this would have been my first World Championship, and I was looking forward to competing there. But with my hand in this state I wouldn't be able to train 100% and be ready for the competition.", but she remains focussed on her goals for next year - the 2003 World Championships in Anaheim and, ultimately, the Olympics. An individual berth would be the first for a female gymnast from Slovenia to qualify to the Olympics outright. (2000 Olympian Mojca Mavric received her ticket after other federation withdrew their qualified competitors.). With her international debut secured, Hribar is on her way.

nora