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Absolutely.Chusovitina is still making some coins on the World Cup circuit. If she wants to continue more power to her.
I think her longevity on the sport will never be replicated, and she is beloved by everyone.
She should keep going as long as she wants to.
53 years old in human years. 28 in Chuso years. Its just a different dimension.Oksana Chusovitina on a ninth Games at LA 2028: "I still want to see whether I can do this or not."
The legendary gymnast will be 53 years old when the Los Angeles Games get underway
By Scott Bregman and Lena Smirnova1 - 13 June 2024
At 48 years old, eight-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina has no intention of letting the injury that sidelined her from last month’s Asian Gymnastics Championships and – ultimately – her final chance at a trip to Paris 2024 keep her down.
And why should it? The 1992 Olympic gold medalist says that despite missing out on her ninth consecutive Games, she’s as strong and motivated as ever.
“What I know is that I feel strong. I don’t force myself to train. I still do it with joy, so I always say, ‘Why should I give up what makes me happy?’” Chusovitina told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview. "If I want to do it, I will do it. If I don’t want to, I can leave at any moment."
Though the legendary gymnast will not be at the Games when they open in less than 50 days (“No, I don’t want to,” she says when asked if she’d attend as a spectator.), that hasn’t stopped her from eyeing the Olympic Games LA 2028 in four years’ time.
“I want to prove to myself, I’m fighting with myself, and I still want to see whether I can do this or not. I really want to qualify for the Olympics, specifically at this age, and overcome all this talk that gymnastics is only for young people,” Chusovitina says. “I want to show that if a female gymnast wants to train, if she likes it, why should she retire if she is 30 years old? This is not right.
“I don’t know what motivates me, probably love. It’s just that many people think, ‘That’s enough. Things didn’t work.’ But this is sport… this can happen to a young athlete, as well.”
Recovery underway
Injuries are, of course, part of gymnastics and sports, but few hit the hearts of fans like Chusovitina’s during official training one day before the start of the Asian Championships, her final chance to earn a quota to Paris 2024.
The veteran Uzbek gymnast says she’s healing well, physically that is.
“Of course, I am very sad. I was very upset because this championship was held in Tashkent, and I really wanted to compete at home,” Chusovitina admits. “But that’s what happened. I already feel much better. I am undergoing treatment, recovering and regaining my strength.
“It’s been three weeks… and I can already run a little,” she says later. “I’m still not allowed to jump, but I can run, so rehabilitation is going well. It’s going according to plan and maybe even a little better than I expected.”
Emotionally… well, it might take a little longer to fully recover.
“I think I won’t feel sad for a long time, but those feelings will still be there for some time. This is normal because every time that I see how people are preparing for the Olympics, or they are writing that they are ready for the Olympics and that ‘the Olympics are in 40 days,' of course, all these feelings float up right away,” said Chusovitina. “But I think that as soon as I have my first competitions, all this will fade into the background. While there are no competitions, while you are training in the gym, of course, all these feelings still haunt you.”
Two years of challenges have plagued Chusovitina
Chusovitina’s injury in Tashkent caps off a difficult two-year period where qualification to Paris 2024 seemed to slip slowly out of reach.
“These last two years have been very difficult for me. Maybe [Covid side effects] had a delayed effect on me,” she explained. “I was sick with Covid twice, and my recovery from it was very strange and difficult. It took me a long time to recover, so these two years were difficult for me. I was constantly sick, always getting sick with a cold. But, now, I feel that my strength has been restored.”
Part of the challenge of the past two seasons for Chusovitina has been that as some of her ability on vault – the event on which she owns an Olympic silver medal – waned, her best opportunities to earn a Paris quota came in the all-around.
She has only competed on all four events twice since 2019, according to thegymter.net.
Still, Chusovitina relished the challenge – and even found a new perspective.
“At the beginning, when you get a bigger workload, of course, it's hard. It was hard, but also fun and I proved to myself that it is possible not to do some element [a Tkatchev on the uneven bars] for six years and then remember it within a couple of days,” recalled Chusovitina of the process of getting back to training in the all-around. “This was also something new for me. It was very interesting. And in general, I realised that I need to train four apparatuses. Your form improves this way. When you train one or two apparatuses, it's completely different.
“I will stick to this tactic,” she said later. “I will train four apparatus. Maybe at competitions, at the World Cup competitions, I will not compete on all four, but in training and when there are some all-around competitions, I want to try to do the all-around.”
Chuso's next dream: a gymnastics school
As she pursues a dream of qualifying for and competing at the LA Games, where she will be 53 years old, Chusovitina will do so having crossed off yet another dream on her list: opening a training center for young gymnasts.
“I want to train children, and also train myself in these conditions. It will be a very nice gymnastics hall, so I can’t wait,” she said. “The apparatuses are already getting delivered. The next stage is to install them. I think that we will become fully operational in September.”
It’s the next chapter in her continuing gymnastics story, a story that has captivated fans across the globe.
That’s something for which Uzbekistan's Chusovitina says she’s thankful.
“I am very grateful to my fans and the people who support me. I bend the knee to them, that they still believe in me and that I can do it,” she said. “Some of them have been following my journey since 1991. It’s very nice. They see my whole journey and that means a lot.”
And it isn’t over yet.
She did a round off out of her mother's womb and right onto the Barcelona medal podium!53 years old in human years. 28 in Chuso years. Its just a different dimension.
Right. Because after all what would any gymnast do at the age of 53? Work on upgrades of course!!!
Busting out the Produnova again...
She’s always been a clean tumbler. But I can’t see her being to tick the artistry checklistI'm not convinced Chuso is capable of high 12s on any event but vault
You are right, at the 23 Asian championships she was in the mid 11’s on the other events.I'm not convinced Chuso is capable of high 12s on any event but vault
Busting out the Produnova again...
With Chuso all things are possible.what is the selection process and is it realistic considering she did not make it this year
In the above article, Chuso said she didn't want to go to Paris [as a non-competitor].Was Chusovitina even in Paris? Like as a honorary guest, or with Uzbek olympic delegation, or Uzbek media? I expected her to be there, but if she was, I missed it.