Gymnast Oksana Chusovitina’s quest to qualify for record 9th Olympics at age 48 ends with injury

Oksana Chusovitina’s time as an Olympic athlete is over. After a professional career that lasted nearly 35 years and spanned eight Olympic Games, the 48-year-old’s dream of making a ninth Olympics has ended after a injury during podium training at the Asian Gymnastics Championships, which are taking place in her home country of Uzbekistan.

Chusovitina, a vault specialist, announced the news on Instagram, speaking in her native language with the English translation in the text.

Chusovitina already holds the record for most Olympic appearances for a gymnast (male or female) and oldest gymnast to compete at the Olympics. Though she didn’t mention retirement, the Olympics (and Olympic qualifying events) have been her focus for the last few years. She will be 52 when the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles take place, and while you can never count Chusovitina out, this feels like the end of the road for her Olympic career.

But it has been a long and illustrious career for Chusovitina. She began competing for the Soviet Union in 1990, but after the fall of the USSR, she became part of the Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. She and the rest of the gymnastics team took home gold in the team event, the only Olympics gold of her career. She also won bronze on vault in 2008, her only individual Olympic medal. Overall, she has won 35 medals in international competition.

Born in Uzbekistan, Chusovitina has competed for her home country for several years, but spent a long period in Germany after her son and only child, Alisher, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. With the help of friends, she and her husband, Uzbek wrestler Bakhodir Kurpanov, moved to Cologne so Alisher could receive the latest medical treatment at the University of Cologne. She competed for Germany after she became a citizen in 2006.

Chusovitina originally said she would retire after the 2012 Olympics, but she changed her mind. Instead she returned to Uzbekistan and has represented them ever since. Alisher eventually went into remission after six years of treatment.