Tashkent, Uzbekistan, April 18, 2024: Eight-time gymnastics Olympian Oksana Chusovitina has won the Uzbekistan all-around national title at the age of 48.
Chusovitina secured a score of 49.200 besting Lobar Amrillaeva’s 48.550 total. Amrillaeva was born in 2006, two years after Chusovitina made her fourth Olympic appearance at Athens 2004.
The event served as a warm-up for the legendary gymnast who will be seeking an historic ninth trip to the Olympic Games at the Asian Championships from May 24-26 in Tashkent.
At that competition, Chusovitina will need to finish as the top eligible gymnast in the all-round standings. It’s no easy feat for the Uzbek, who has not competed in all four events internationally since 2019.
However, her win at the national championships is a promising step forward. Her competition included performing a Tkatchev release move on the uneven bars for the first time in five years, according to a post from Chusovitina on Instagram.
“I made it!,” she wrote in the post. “Today, I took flight on a Tkatchev after 5 years.”
In addition to claiming the all-around title, Chusovitina won the gold medal in the vault and the silver medal on the uneven bars.