Oksana Chusovitina will miss her 9th Olympic participation ...!

Oksana CHUSOVITINA (UZB) - bad luckdue to injury!

The 'Grand Dame' of international artistic gymnastics, 48-year-old Oksana CHUSOVITINA from Uzbekistan, was injured yesterday during training for the Asian Championships in her hometown Tashkent,
There she wanted to qualify for her ninth Olympic Games: She only had this last chance left on the vault at the continental championships starting tomorrow in her home country of Tashkent, but today she announced that she will not be able to compete due to a training injury.
Oksanasie made a sad statement on Instagram: “My dear friends, fans and everyone who loves gymnastics! Unfortunately I have some sad news for you! Yesterday I injured myself during the floor exercise at the podium training for the Asian Championships, which is taking place in Tashkent and is a qualifying event for the Olympic Games in Paris. I will not be able to participate and I am very sad as I have been preparing for this competition for a long time”!

... she was one of the absolute world leaders for over 3 decades, not only on the vaulting apparatus!!!

Since the beginning of the Olympic season 2024, Chusovitina had tried to qualify as a specialist on the vault table via the World Cup series. However, as she did not manage to make it into the top two - she “only” came fifth in the World Federation's list of Olympic qualifiers - she would now only have one last chance via the continental (national) level, but with one restriction: in Tashkent she would not only have had to compete on the vault apparatus, but a complete quadruple competition ... and it happened during the last training session (during the floor exercises) ...!

2017, on the occasion of admission to the > Gallery of the Legends of World Gymnastics, mit IGHOF-Patron Bruno Klaus (USA)

At her 8^th Olympic participation in Tokyo in 2021, she actually wanted to say goodbye with a medal, but was unable to qualify among the top eight gymnasts for the final. It seemed to be her farewell to the world's gymnastics arenas ...-
But in May 2022, the exceptional 45-year-old decided to compete in another Olympic cycle in order to qualify for Paris 2024: “I can't get enough. I like the process. I like everything that has to do with sport and gymnastics. I like the atmosphere at the competitions. I even like the training process. It's my air to breathe. My philosophy in life is to do the things that bring me joy and happiness,” she once enthused when she was inducted into the "International Gymnastics Hall of Fame" (IGHOF) Gallery of Gymnastics Legends in Oklahoma City in 2017.

But after her eight consecutive Olympic appearances since 1992 (Barcelona), she is the undisputed record holder in artistic gymnastics, winning gold (team, 1992) and silver (vault 2008). She was a three-time world champion, two-time European champion, two-time winner of the Asian Games and even two-time German all-around champion (2007 in Giessen and 2008 in Chemnitz), when she spent several years in Germany, among other things, for the self-sacrificing care of her son Alisher suffering from leukemia, during which her family was also effectively supported by a GYMmedia-Spendenaktion ...!
The “Tournament of Champions in Cottbus” was her “regular tournament”, which she won a record tens of times, and won countless World Cup and other tournaments.

2017 - signing the IGHOF show jumping horse, which hasn't been used as competition equipment
for almost a quarter of a century!

Although Oksana Chusovitina, who will turn 49 in June, has not yet said a word about the end of her career - this superwoman has long held a permanent place as an outstanding personality and legend in modern world gymnastics history, and in the hearts of gymnastics fans anyway!!!
(c) gymmedia / Eckard W. Herholz