Unbeaten in a major competition on the apparatus since 1994, the undisputed queen of the bars drew gasps from a stunned audience after falling off twice while performing her daring release and catch moves.
American Courtney Kupets could not believe her luck as she took gold with a winning score of 9.550 ahead of Romania's Ioana Petrovschi and Khorkina's Russian compatriot Lyudmila Eyova.
Dressed in a diamond-encrusted black leotard, Khorkina failed to grasp the bar after her first release, resulting in a disappointing score of 7.387, which placed her seventh out of the eight finalists.
With her grace and charm, the 23-year-old had effortlessly floated through the routine in the two qualifying rounds and easily outclassed the pretenders to her throne.
With the result seemingly a forgone conclusion from the first day of the championships, the rest of the field had their focus firmly placed on the battle for the silver medal.
But when Khorkina's crown slipped in an instant, Kupets fixed her eyes on the scoreboard in disbelief at seeing her name on top of the pile.
Two competitors and less than five minutes later the jubilant 16-year-old jumped up and down with her coach as the pair suddenly realized the impossible had come true.
"This is the happiest day of my life. I knew I had to come up with something breathtaking to have a chance to dethrone Svetlana," Kupets said.
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