Oksana Chusovitina of Team Uzbekistan at the 19th Asian Games at Huanglong Sports Centre Gymnasium on Sept. 25, 2023 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China.
Paris 2024 will be the first Olympic Games without Oksana Chusovitina in more than three decades.
The Uzbekistani gymnast has competed in eight consecutive Olympic Games, beginning with the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. She announced Thursday that she sustained an injury before her final qualification opportunity, the Asian Championships in Tashkent.
The 48-year-old gymnast became an icon for her resilience and longevity in a sport known for early retirements.
“I will not be able to take part [in the Asian Championships] and I am very upset, as I have been preparing for this competition for a long time,” Chusotvitina said in an Instagram post. “I started doing all-around and I wanted to perform in our country, in front of our fans. But, unfortunately, tomorrow you will not see me among the participants.”
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Chusotvitina is a two-time Olympic medalist, having won a team gold medal with the Unified Team in 1992 and a bronze on the vault representing Germany at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she became the oldest female gymnast to compete at an Olympic Games at 46.
Chusovitina moved to Germany in 2002 while her son received treatment there for acute lymphocytic leukemia. She represented the German federation from 2006-2012, when she changed her nationality back to Uzbekistan, her home country.
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Emma Malabuyo, an alternate for the U.S. women's team in Tokyo, was slated to face off against Chusovitina for the final qualification spot to Paris. Malabuyo now represents the Philippines and the Asian Championships is her last Olympic qualification opportunity.
Chusovitina initially planned to retire after the Tokyo Olympics but continued to train. She has not announced whether the Paris Olympic cycle will be her last.
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