Legendary gymnast Oksana Chusovitina promises "More to come"

In what can feel like the ever-changing landscape of women’s artistic gymnastics, there has been one constant for more than three decades: Oksana Chusovitina.

The 47-year-old had said – with certainty – that her final competition would be the Tokyo 2020 Games.

There, she received a somewhat somber farewell. With no fans in the stands to honour her legendary career, judges, coaches and her fellow athletes did their best to give her a sendoff worthy of all she’s given the sport.

After she thanked those in the building through tears in her eyes, she told media that was her swansong.

"These were tears of joy because so many people were supporting me," Chusovitina said of the standing ovation she received from the few on hand in Tokyo. "I had been preparing for things to end here, but it's impossible to be fully ready for ending your career."

Turns out, she wasn’t.

In September 2021, just a few months removed from those Tokyo Olympics, Chusovitina announced on Instagram that she would return to training, dreaming of one final medal at a major competition – the Asian Games – for Uzbekistan.

"I want to tell everyone that I have decided to prepare for the Asian Games 2022," she said on her Instagram story. "I just can't finish my career without a medal for Uzbekistan."

Oksana Chusovitina: Targeting Paris 2024

With that competition delayed until 2023 due to COVID-19 restrictions, Chusovitina said she would focus on a ninth trip to the Olympic Games at Paris 2024.

"I thought about it well and decided that after the Asian Games, I would also prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympics," Chusovitina said according to an article from the Uzbekistan Olympic Committee.

Chusovitina has competed in a historic eight Olympic Games, having made her debut as part of the Unified Team at the 1992 Olympic Games. She won a team gold medal there.

Though she would represent Uzebekistan at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Games, her second Olympic medal came some 16 years later at the 2008 Olympic Games. That’s when Chusovitina, then representing her third nation at the Games, Germany, was the silver medallist on vault. 33 years old at the time, Chusovitina was just .075 shy of the gold medal.

And now, her story continues.

She skipped the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool to prepare for this season where she’ll aim to qualify to Paris in late September at the Worlds in Antwerp, Belgium.

Her season has started in fine form, as she took bronze medals on vault at the first two World Cup stops of the season in Cottbus and Doha.

“Thank you all so much for the support,” she wrote on Instagram after the event in Cottbus. “First start, first medal.

“More to come,” she added.

Just in case anyone doubted it.