Uzbekistan’s Oksana Chusovitina marked her 50th birthday with a silver medal in the vault at the Gymnastics World Challenge Cup – 33 years after she became an Olympic champion.
Chusovitina was part of a Unified Team of athletes from post-Soviet nations that won the team all-around gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games, and has competed at eight Olympics in total.
Three decades later the Uzbek, who is also a three-time world champion, is still winning medals in a sport in which most retire in their twenties.
Competing in her native country at the International Gymnastics Federation’s World Challenge Cup in Tashkent one day after her birthday, Chusovitina took vault silver behind Bulgaria’s Valentina Georgieva – who, at 18, is 32 years her junior.
Until Paris 2024, Chusovitina had competed at every summer Olympic Games since 1992.
She was looking to equal the record – set by Georgian shooter Nino Salukvadze, who is the only Olympian to have competed in nine consecutive Games – for most Olympic appearances in a row last year in Paris.
However, injury ruled her out of the Asian Championships, meaning she was unable to qualify.
Tashkent always a focus with birthday in mind
Chusovitina was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2017, and eight years later she remains the only member to still be competing after their induction.
She explained before the Tokyo Games why she had not yet retired: “I could have stopped at 25, 19, or 30, but I didn’t. I realised with age I didn’t get worse, I only got better, like fine wine.”
She had made it clear in February that she was targeting her home event.
“In June, on my 50th birthday, we will have a competition here in Tashkent. It will be a World Challenge Cup, and I really want to compete there so I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” she said.
Earlier this month she withdrew from the Asian Championships during the final of the vault in order to ensure she could compete in Tashkent.
