Oksana Chusovitina (48, Uzbekistan), the “Iron Lady” of women’s artistic gymnastics who dreamed of competing at the Olympics even at the age of retirement, has had her bid for a ticket to Paris cut short by injury.
Chusovitina announced on her Instagram account that she is currently training for the floor exercise at the Asian Gymnastics Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and will not be able to compete.
Chusovitina, who needed a first-place finish in the women’s all-around (vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise) at the Asian Championships to qualify for Paris, fell just short of qualifying for her ninth Olympic Games.
Born on June 19, 1975, in Uzbekistan in the former Soviet Union, Chusovitina, who is approaching her 49th birthday, is the only living gymnast, male or female, to have competed in eight Olympic Games.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, she competed in Barcelona in 1992 as part of the Commonwealth of Independent States and went on to stand on the podium at eight consecutive Olympic Games until Tokyo 2020 in 2021.
He moved to Germany for the treatment of his son, who was battling leukemia, and took German citizenship, competing for Germany at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics.
He has competed for three different countries, including the Commonwealth of Independent States (1992) and Uzbekistan (1996-2020).
Despite her diminutive stature of 5-foot-3, Chusovitina’s unparalleled self-care has kept her in top shape for more than 30 years, allowing her to compete for medals with athletes of her age.
She remains world-class on floor exercise and vault, where vaulting is emphasized, and won gold in the team event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and silver on vault at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
At the World Championships, she won three 토토 gold, four silver, and four bronze medals.
He also collected two gold, four silver, and two bronze medals at the Asian Games, including a sweep on vault and floor at the 2002 Busan Games.
At the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, she won the silver medal on vault, narrowly edging out South Korea’s Yeo Seo-jung (Jecheon City Hall), who was 27 years her junior.
After retiring after the Tokyo Olympics, Chusovitina returned to the sport with a desire to win more medals for her country, competing at last year’s Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games and even challenging for a spot at the Paris Olympics before an unexpected injury derailed her plans.
“It’s important not to give up,” she said, emphasizing her indomitable spirit in the face of such news.