Olympic legend Oksana Chusovitina celebrates her 50th birthday by winning a silver medal in the vault at the Gymnastics World Challenge Cup, 33 years after she first became an Olympic champion.
Chusovitina was part of the Unified Team that secured the team all-around gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and has participated in a total of eight Olympic Games.
Three decades later, the Uzbek gymnast, who is also a three-time world champion, continues to earn medals in a sport where most athletes retire in their twenties.
Competing in her home country at the International Gymnastics Federation’s World Challenge Cup in Tashkent, just a day after her birthday, Chusovitina secured silver in the vault, finishing behind Bulgaria’s Valentina Georgieva, who is 32 years younger than her.
Leading up to Paris 2024, Chusovitina had participated in every summer Olympic Games since 1992, aiming to match the record for the most consecutive Olympic appearances, held by Georgian shooter Nino Salukvadze.
Unfortunately, an injury prevented her from competing at the Asian Championships, which hindered her qualification efforts.
Inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2017, Chusovitina remains the only member still actively competing since her induction.
Before the Tokyo Games, she explained her decision to continue competing: “I could have retired at 25, 19, or 30, but I didn’t. I found that with age, I only improved, like fine wine.”
In February, she expressed her desire to compete in her home event. “On my 50th birthday in June, there will be a World Challenge Cup in Tashkent, and I really want to participate, so I’m hopeful,” she said.
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Earlier this month, she withdrew from the Asian Championships during the vault finals to ensure her participation in Tashkent.
Chusovitina competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, a time when many current gymnasts had not yet been born.
After winning team gold in Barcelona, she represented Uzbekistan in the next three Olympics. However, after relocating to Germany due to her son’s leukemia diagnosis, she gained citizenship and switched her allegiance.
She won a silver medal in the vault while representing Germany at the 2008 Beijing Games, competed for Germany again in London in 2012, and then returned to Uzbekistan for the 2016 Rio Olympics, qualifying for the postponed Tokyo Games in 2021.
Chusovitina briefly retired after the Tokyo Games but made a comeback just 67 days later. Reflecting on her decision in 2023, she stated, “I realized that I can still do this. Why should I leave the sport if it brings me joy?”
Earlier this season, she achieved gold at the Baku World Cup and bronze at the Cottbus World Cup.
