By Eddie Pells
The Associated Press

ATHENS - America has its new Mary Lou, and her name is Carly Patterson.

The 16-year-old dynamo beat Russian superstar Svetlana Khorkina to give the United States another Olympic all-around gymnastics champion Thursday night.

"It just means a whole lot," Patterson said. "I worked my whole life to be an Olympic champion."

Patterson is the first U.S. woman to win the all-around title since Mary Lou Retton did it in 1984, and no one was happier about it than America's first golden girl.

"I have been waiting for 20 years," Retton said in a telephone interview from the States. "The crown has been sitting and waiting for the next all-around champion. Carly Patterson, it's yours."

Patterson's victory came the night after Paul Hamm won gold in the men's all-around. The two make the United States only the second country to have both all-around champions in the same Olympics, joining the former Soviet Union and its successor, the Unified Team.

In a competition that came down to the very last tumbling pass, Patterson scored a 9.712 on floor to finish with 38.387 points and defeat Khorkina by .176. Zhang Nan of China won bronze.

Khorkina, who is competing at her last Olympics and for years called herself the "Queen of Gymnastics," won her first Olympic all-around medal. It was silver, not gold, although listening to her talk, one wouldn't have known the difference.

"I know perfectly well what I'm going to say," the 25-year-old Khorkina said. "I'm still an Olympic champion. That's all."

Patterson isn't as graceful a performer as Khorkina. But she's more athletic, more explosive, and on this night, just a little bit better.

"She's a very good gymnast with a very good coach," Khorkina said. "I wish her to last as long as I have at the Olympic Games, and proudly to carry the title of Olympic champion."

Like Khorkina, Patterson closed the night on the floor. On all four tumbling passes, she jumped higher than any of the other 23 women in the meet. Just as import, she pulled off perfect landings.

Compare that to Khorkina, who was graceful and elegant in every sense but stumbled ever so slightly during one pirouette and didn't have the burst off the mat to go with her trademark flamboyance.

When Patterson's winning score was posted, coach Evgeny Marchenko lifted her on his left shoulder and paraded her in front of the fans.

"You dream about this your whole life. Then you win the gold medal," Patterson said. "It's just amazing."