Uzbekistan’s 46-year-old gymnast Oksana Chusovitina announced her retirement after competing for Uzbekistan in vault qualification in Tokyo Games.

In the qualifying round of the vault, the athlete scored 14,166 points and took 11th place among 16 participants. 

The gymnast got a standing ovation from her fellow gymnasts after she failed to qualify for the vault final, bringing an end to her international career. Fighting tears, Chusovitina climbed up on the vault runway and took a long look around the arena before making the shape of a heart with her hands. “Thank you very much! Goodbye everyone! Bye-bye!”, she said and wished good luck to the rest of the participants.

Oksana Chusovitina is the champion of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, a three-time world champion, winner of the Asian Games. She entered the Guinness World Records as the only gymnast in the world to have participated in the Summer Olympics eight times in a row (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020). She is Honored Sportswoman of Uzbekistan, holder of the honorary title “O'zbekiston Iftikhori” (Pride of Uzbekistan), and “Dustlik” (Friendship), “Mehnat Shuhrati” (Labor Glory) and “El-Yurt Khurmati” (Respected by people and homeland) orders.

UzA