After the men's and women's gymnastic teams picked up the silver medals in the team competitions, Paul Hamm and Carly Patterson both won the individual over-all events. Patterson's win was the first by an American woman since Mary Lou Retton won 20 years ago, four years before the sixteen year-old Patterson was born. Retton was the same age when she won the all-around in 1984. Fitting, considering Patterson is often compared to Retton.
Patterson defeated Svetlana Khorkina of Russia who had a cold demeanor throughout the night. After the competition, she said, "I'm still Olympic champion. If somebody doesn't know, I was an Olympic champion in Sydney." Hmm, bitch much?
Bela Karolyi, who was Retton's coach was exuberant after the victory, "Just like we expected it to be! How many years have we waited for this? My goodness, Carly's got the mental toughness of a champion. She proved who is the real champion tonight. Another Mary Lou!"
