Tashkent, Uzbekistan, March 9, 2025: Ageless artistic gymnast Oksana Chusovitina has set her sights on a ninth Olympic Games appearance after winning the gold medal at the Baku World Cup in Azerbaijan on Saturday, March 8.
Chusovitina delivered an age-defying performance to win the women’s vault competition at the FIG Apparatus World Cup. The 49-year-old Uzbek nailed a 1.5 twisting Tsukahara vault to earn a winning score of 13.156 for her first victory since suffering an injury at the 2024 Asian Championships.
That injury ended her hopes of qualifying for Paris 2024 and representing Uzbekistan, which would have been a record ninth Olympics for the gymnastic legend.
“My number one goal is to get to Los Angeles in 2028," the 1992 Barcelona Olympics team champion was quoted as saying by Olympics.com.
“But there is so much time before then, so I’m not thinking that far ahead. I go step-by-step, from one competition to the next, because there are other activities besides gymnastics.
“If LA28 happens, it happens. If not, then no. But I will try, and I will give it everything I’ve got,” Chusovitina said.
The experienced Chusovitina, who turns 50 in June, returned to international competition a fortnight ago when she captured her 16th vault medal at the Cottbus World Cup with a bronze.
Her latest exploits were warmly greeted by the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan who posted on social media: “Way to go, Oksana!”