Oksana Chusovitina

Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina (; born 19 June 1975) is an Uzbekistani artistic gymnast who previously represented the Soviet Union and Germany.

Chusovitina's career as an elite gymnast has spanned more than three decades. She won the USSR Junior Nationals in 1988 and began competing at the international level in 1989 before many of her current rivals were even born. She is the only gymnast ever to compete in eight Olympic Games, and is one of only two female gymnasts to compete at the Olympics under three different national teams: the Unified Team in 1992; Uzbekistan in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2016 and 2020; and Germany in 2008 and 2012. She is one of the 18 Olympians and 6 female Olympians to participate in 8 different Olympics. Chusovitina's longevity and consistency as an elite gymnast is exceptionally unusual; the skillset and wear and tear typical of the sport mean elite female gymnasts have often retired in their early twenties and a gymnast in her late twenties would be considered a seasoned veteran.

Chusovitina has also competed in 16 World Championships, six Asian Games, and three Goodwill Games. Chusovitina holds the record for the most individual world championship medals in a single event (nine, on the vault). Chusovitina is one of the few female gymnasts to return to international competitions after becoming a mother. In 2017, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Soviet Union Chusovitina began gymnastics in 1982. In 1988, at the age of 13, she won the all-around title at the USSR National Championships in the junior division.

By 1990, Chusovitina was competing internationally and winning medals as a member of the Soviet team. She was the vault gold medalist at the 1990 Goodwill Games and nearly swept the 1990 World Sports Fair in Japan, winning the all-around and every event except the uneven bars. The following year, she won the floor exercise at the 1991 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, tied with Cristina Bontaș, and placed second on the vault, tied with Henrietta Ónodi.

In 1992, Chusovitina competed at the Olympics with the Unified Team, where she shared in the team gold medal and placed seventh in the floor final.

Uzbekistan After the 1992 Olympics, when the former Soviet gymnasts returned to their home republics, Chusovitina began competing for Uzbekistan and continued training with Uzbekistan head coach Svetlana Kuznetsova, also her personal coach. Conditions at the national training facility in Tashkent were far worse than the Soviet Round Lake training center, so Chusovitina practiced on antiquated, and in some cases, unsafe equipment. In spite of this setback, she was able to consistently produce world-class routines.

Chusovitina represented Uzbekistan from 1993 to 2006, and competed for them at the 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympics, the 1994, 1998, and 2002 Asian Games, and the 1994 and 2001 Goodwill Games. During this era, she was the strongest gymnast on the Uzbekistan national team, earning more than 70 medals in international competitions and qualifying to the Olympics three times.

By 1996, at age 20, Chusovitina was considered an "older" gymnast; her changes in personal style and participation in professional meets to gain experience for international competition were assumed to be preparations for her retirement. She said in an interview that while she could not recommend a particular strategy to other "older" gymnasts in general, "if you really want to do it, you can do it at any age". In 2001, she was named as the first WAG (women's artistic gymnastics) representative to the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG)'s Athletes' Commission. In addition, Chusovitina graduated from the Sports University in Tashkent.

In late 1997, Chusovitina married Uzbek Olympic wrestler Bakhodir Kurbanov, whom she first met at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima. Seeking advanced medical treatment for their son, Chusovitina and her husband accepted an offer of help from Shanna and Peter Brüggemann, head coaches of the Toyota Cologne club, and moved to Germany. With prize money earned from gymnastics competitions, along with the help of the Brüggemanns and members of the international gymnastics community who fundraised and donated to the cause, Chusovitina was able to secure treatment for Alisher at the University of Cologne's hospital. While Alisher underwent treatment in Cologne, Chusovitina trained with the German team.

Uzbekistan released Chusovitina to compete for Germany in 2003. However, due to rules requiring three years of residency, she was unable to gain German citizenship immediately. From 2003 to 2006 she trained in Germany but continued to compete for Uzbekistan, representing her native country at the 2003 and 2005 World Championships and the 2004 Olympics. In 2003, 12 years after her world championships debut, Chusovitina won the gold medal on the vault at that year's world championships in Anaheim.

In July 2007, she won the all-around title at the 2007 German National Championships. At her first European Championships, she placed second on the vault. At the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart, Chusovitina helped the German squad to a 10th-place finish in the preliminary round, which qualified them to send a full team to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where she was the oldest female competitor in her discipline.

At the 2008 Olympics, the German team placed 12th in the qualifying round of competition. Chusovitina qualified to the individual all-around final, where she placed ninth overall. She also qualified in fourth place for the vault final. In the vault final, she won the silver medal with a score of 15.575.

Despite earlier claims that she would attempt to compete in the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Chusovitina announced in April 2009 that she intended to only participate in the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships in October, and that she would not continue. The championships, she stated, are "enough."

However, she returned to compete in some competitions in 2010 (including the 2010 Houston National Invitational). She won the silver medal on vault at the 2011 European Championships, the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 European Championships.

Chusovitina competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics for Germany. The games were a remarkable sixth Olympics for Chusovitina, who qualified for the vault final where she placed in fifth behind her German teammate, Janine Berger. Afterward Chusovitina declared she would retire as a gymnast and concentrate on coaching.

However, instead of retiring, Chusovitina switched back to competing for Uzbekistan. She competed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. She has stated her goal is to win an Olympic medal on vault for Uzbekistan, because she’s already won medals for the Unified Team and Germany, but not for her home country.

Recent years Despite her statements about retirement in 2012, Chusovitina returned to gymnastics the following year and announced plans to continue competing through the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. In April 2016, she qualified an individual place for Uzbekistan at a qualifying event in Rio de Janeiro. Upon competing in Rio, she set a record as the oldest gymnast to ever compete at the Olympic Games at the age of 41 and 2 months. She also became the first and only gymnast to compete in seven consecutive Olympiads, surpassing the record of six she set in 2012 with Yordan Yovchev of Bulgaria. Following the 2016 Olympics, Chusovitina announced that she intended to compete in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

In 2017, she was elected to serve once again as the WAG athlete representative for the FIG athlete's commission, serving through 2021.

After competing solely on vault for several years, Chusovitina announced in 2018 that she would begin competing all-around again.

Chusovitina competed at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in order to qualify for Tokyo. During qualifications, she fell on her second vault and on balance beam. Despite these errors, she ranked high enough in the all-around standings to secure one of the last all-around berths to the Olympics from that event. She was selected as a flag bearer for Uzbekistan at the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, but was replaced just few hours before the ceremony. She then went on to compete in the vault finals, though she didn’t place.

Despite initially stating that she would retire following the delayed 2020 Olympic Games, Chusovitina later stated she would return to training for the 2022 Asian Games, which was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She then won a gold medal on vault at 2022 Doha World Cup Event and the 2022 Uzbekistan National Championships. When asked how the postponement of the Asian games would influence her training plans, she stated that her goal was to continue training and compete in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. Chusovitina competed at the postponed Islamic Solidarity Games in 2022 alongside Dildora Aripova and Ominakhon Khalilova. They finished second as a team behind Turkey. Chusovitina won gold on vault. Having medaled in three of four World Cups in 2022, Chusovitina earned the World Cup series title on Vault, a feat she repeated in 2023. In March 2024, she competed in two World Cup championships, first placing 23rd on vault, which disqualified her from being selected as an apparatus specialist for the 2024 Olympics, meaning she would have to qualify through her all-around score at the Asian Gymnastics Championships in late May. Later in the month, she placed second on vault behind Tjaša Kysselef. In April, she claimed the Uzbekistan national title in the all-around competition. On 23 May, Chusovitina announced she was withdrawing from competition following an injury that occurred during training. Apparatus Name Description Difficulty Vault Chusovitina Handspring forward on - piked salto forward with 1/1 turn (360°) off 4.4 Vault Chusovitina Handspring forward on - stretched salto forward with 1½ turn (540°) off 5.4 Uneven bars Chusovitina Giant circle backward to handstand with hop 1/1 turn (360°) in handstand phase D (0.4) Uneven bars Chusovitina Swing forward to double salto backward tucked with 1/1 turn (360°) in second salto D (0.4) Floor exercise Chusovitina-Touzhikova Double salto backward stretched with 1/1 turn (360°) H (0.8)

Competitive history

+Competitive history of Oksana ChusovitinaYearEvent 1988 USSR Championships (junior) 1989 Cottbus International 9 1990 Goodwill Games World Sports Fair USSR Cup USSR Championships 6 1991 World Championships Chunichi Cup 8 USSR Championships 4 Blume Memorial 8 1992 World Stars 15 World Championships 7 Olympic Games 7 1993 DTB Cup 4 Kosice International Massilia Gym Cup World Championships 18 8 1994 Swiss Cup 6 5 Goodwill Games 5 5 5 4 Asian Games 4 4 1995 Cottbus International 5 5 5 DTB Cup 4 5 4 World Championships 19 6 Arthur Gander Memorial Swiss Cup 1996 American Cup International Mixed Pairs Cottbus International 4 5 7 DTB Cup 4 4 Arthur Gander Memorial Swiss Cup Olympic Games 10 1997 American Cup 4 World Stars 6 Cottbus International 1998 Asian Games 4 8 6 Arthur Gander Memorial 2000 DTB Cup 4 4 Olympic Games 45 25 2001 World Stars Cottbus World Cup 5 DTB Cup 7 4 Arthur Gander Memorial Goodwill Games 4 World Championships 19 2002 American Cup 4 WOGA Classic Cottbus World Cup 5 6 Arthur Gander Memorial Asian Games 5 4 World Championships 8 6 World Cup Final 5 4 2003 Cottbus World Cup 4 4 5 DTB Cup 6 6 Arthur Gander Memorial Swiss Cup World Championships 2004 Cottbus World Cup 6 Olympic Games 23 2005 Glasgow World Cup 7 6 São Paulo World Cup 7 5 World Championships 2006Arthur Gander Memorial Stuttgart World Cup Moscow World Cup Ghent World Cup 4 5 Cottbus World Cup World Championships 9 Swiss Cup 2007 European Championships 6 6 German Championships World Championships 6 Stuttgart World Cup Moscow World Cup Cottbus World Cup Swiss Cup 2008 European Championships 7 6 German Championships Doha World Cup 6 Cottbus World Cup Olympic Games 9 2010 Cottbus World Cup Moscow World Cup European Championships 12 SUI-GER-ROU Friendly World Championships 2011 Cottbus World Cup SUI-GER-ROU Friendly European Championships World Championships 6 2012 German Championships 16 European Championships 8 Olympic Games 5 Stuttgart World Cup Toyota International 4 6 4 GER-GBR-ROU Friendly 2013 Internationaux de France La Roche-sur-Yon World Cup Cottbus World Cup Gym Festival Trnava Anadia World Cup World Championships 5 Mexican Open 2014 Asian Games 5 Joaquin Blume Memorial 5 Mexican Open 8 4 4 2015 Houston National Invitational Cottbus World Cup Ljubljana World Cup Varna World Cup 8 4 World Championships 13 Toyota International 7 5 6 2016 Houston National Invitational WOGA Classic Baku World Challenge Cup 8 Cottbus World Challenge Cup 6 4 Olympic Test Event 45 Mersin World Challenge Cup 4 Olympic Games 7 2nd Bundesliga (3rd League) 5 Mexican Open 2017 International Gymnix 6 Baku World Cup Doha World Cup 8 Islamic Solidarity Games 5 Szombathely Challenge Cup 6 Paris Challenge Cup 4 World Championships 5 2nd Bundesliga (2nd League) Cottbus World Cup Voronin Cup 2018 Houston National Invitational Baku World Cup Doha World Cup Osijek Challenge Cup Asian Games Paris Challenge Cup World Championships 4 Arthur Gander Memorial 8 Swiss Cup 5 Cottbus World Cup 5 2019 Melbourne World Cup 8 Baku World Cup Doha World Cup 5 Zhaoqing Challenge Cup Korea Cup 4 Paris Challenge Cup World Championships 12 2021 Varna Challenge Cup Doha World Cup Olympic Games 14 2022 Doha World Cup Cairo World Cup Baku World Cup Asian Championships 6 5 Islamic Solidarity Games 9 2023 Cottbus World Cup Doha World Cup Baku World Cup Cairo World Cup 8 Asian Championships 7 16 Mersin Challenge Cup Asian Games 4 2024 Cottbus World Cup 6 Antalya Challenge Cup Doha World Cup 5 2025 Cottbus World Cup Baku World Cup Antalya World Cup 5 Doha World Cup 6 Cairo World Cup 6 Asian Championships Tashkent World Challenge Cup 2026 Cottbus World Cup 7 Baku World Cup 7 Antalya World Cup 4 Tashkent World Challenge Cup 4 Asian Championships 6 8

Year-end world rankings

Vault 2010: #9 2011: #1 2013: #1 2015: #1

Balance beam 2010: #28 2013: #24 2015: #45

Floor exercise 2015: #7

Floor music +YearMusic Title 1996–2000 Phantom of the Opera 2006, 2008 Pirates of the Caribbean 2007 The Godfather Theme