She's far from the biggest name among Olympic gymnasts, but by one measure she is certainly the most frequent. Uzbekistani gymnast Oksana Chusovitina on Thursday announced that she has no shot at competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics, ending a run that has seen her compete at eight consecutive Summer Olympics beginning in 1992. Chusovitina's final chance to make the team was at the Asian Championships in Tashkent, but the 48-year-old on Thursday said she suffered an injury that will prevent her from competing in it.
"I will not be able to take part [in the Asian Championships] and I am very upset, as I have been preparing for this competition for a long time," Chusotvitina said on Instagram. "I started doing all-around and I wanted to perform in our country, in front of our fans. But, unfortunately, tomorrow you will not see me among the participants." Chusotvitina won a team gold medal with the Unified Team in 1992 and a bronze on the vault in 2008 while she temporarily represented Germany, where her son was being treated for cancer.
When competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were held in 2021, the then-46-year-old became the oldest female Olympic gymnastics competitor. "Not only is she decades older than some of her competitors, she's older than many of their parents," quips USA Today. But it points out she has remained a competitor, winning medals on the vault at three World Cups in 2023. (More Olympics stories.)
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