For the first time in more than 30 years, gymnast Oksana Chusovitina won’t be at the Olympics.
The 48-year-old cannot compete at this week’s Asian Gymnastics Championships after suffering an injury on floor exercise during podium training. The competition was Chusovitina’s last chance to qualify for this summer’s Paris Games.
“I will not be able to take part and I am very upset as I have been preparing for this competition for a long time,” Chusovitina said in an Instagram post.
Chusovitina is a marvel in a sport that, for the simple fact that people lose flexibility as they age, has traditionally prized youth. She has competed at every Olympics since 1992, first with the Unified Team, then Germany and, finally, her native Uzbekistan. Not only is she decades older than some of her competitors, she’s older than many of their parents.
Even more impressive, Chusovitina remains competitive. She won medals on vault at three World Cups last year and won the vault title at the Baku World Cup in 2022.
Chusovitina has talked of retiring at various points in her career, and swore at the Tokyo Olympics that she meant it this time. She wanted to spend more time with her husband and son, who is now 24.
But sure enough, with another Olympics on the horizon, Chusovitina was back in the gym, defying age and convention.
“We are women, that’s how we are,” she said with a smile at the 2018 world championships. “We are changing our moods all the time.”
Chusovitina knows people are fascinated with her longevity, but she’s said she wasn’t trying to prove a point. She continued doing gymnastics because it was fun and because she could.
“I have fun,” she said in 2018.
But everything eventually comes to an end. Including Chusovitina’s Olympic iron streak.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2024 Paris Olympics: Oksana Chusovitina injury takes her out of Games
