The 19th Asian Games (ASIAD 19) brings together more than 12,000 athletes from countries in the region to compete, including many top names and equally interesting. Oksana Chusovitina is one of them.
Photo taken from the Hoang Long Sports Center Gymnasium in Hangzhou (China), Chusovitina had a training session yesterday (September 23). That means, Uzbek athletes will compete in the jumping ball and balance bar event of the Tools' Physical Education category.
2 years ago, at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan, Chusovitina announced her retirement. That was also the 8th Olympics in the glorious career of the female athlete born in 1975, the only gymnasium athlete to do so.
She won the Soviet National Youth Championship in 1988 and began competing internationally in 1989 before many of her current opponents were born.
Not only achieving great results, Chusovitina also attracted attention as one of 2 gymnasts competing under the colors of 3 different countries: Soviet team (old) from 1988 to 1992; 2 periods with Uzbekistan from 1993 to 2005 and from 2020 to present; Germany from 2006 to 2012.
She has participated in the Olympics in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020. She is one of 18 Olympic athletes and 6 women's Olympic athletes participating in 8 different Olympics.
Chusovitina's perseverance and determination as an excellent athlete is particularly unusual. The skill set and characteristic elements of this sport mean that top female athletes often retire in their early 20s and a physical education athlete in their late 20s will be considered an experienced veteran.
Chusovitina has also competed in 16 World Championships, 4 Asian Games and 3 Charity Sports Festivals. Chusovitina holds the record for the most individual world championship medals in an event (9). Chusovitina is one of the few female gymnastics athletes returning to international competition after becoming a mother.
In a top-level competition career spanning more than 3 decades, Chusovitina came up with 5 new moves and was later named after her.
For more than a decade, Chusovitina has thought about retiring (in 2009 and 2012), but her love for exercise has kept her. And also because she once said "everything depends on yourself and the awareness of the athletes. No one understands each person's body as themselves."
And so, in 2016, she set a record as the oldest gymnasi player to ever compete in the Olympics at the age of 41 years and 2 months, before breaking her own record in Tokyo.
Although deciding to retire after Tokyo 2021 (an event that had to be postponed for 1 year due to COVID-19), Chusovitina announced that she would return to practice for the 19th ASIAD in 2022 - the event also had to be postponed until the time of organization.
During the waiting period, she won a gold medal in badminton at the Doha World Cup event in 2022 and won a gold medal in badminton at the Uzbek National Championship in 2022.
When asked how the postponement of the 19th ASIAD will affect the training plan, Chusovitina only said that the goal is to continue training and competing at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France...
Chusovitina said: "I will continue my sports career to say goodbye to this sport the way I want."
