Oksana Chusovitina

Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina (Russian: Оксана Александровна Чусовитина; born 19 June 1975) is an Olympic gymnast who has competed for the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan, and Germany.

Oksana Chusovitina
Chusovitina in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina
Country represented	Uzbekistan
Former countries represented	Germany (2006–2012)  Uzbekistan (1993–2006)  Unified Team (1992)  CIS (1992)  Soviet Union (until 1991)
Born	(1975-06-19) 19 June 1975 Bukhara, Uzbek SSR, USSR
Hometown	Köln, Germany
Height	1.53 m (5 ft 0 in)
Weight	44 kg (97 lb)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior international
Years on national team	18  Uzbekistan 7  Germany
Club	Turnteam Toyota Köln
Head coach(es)	Svetlana Boguinskaya(personal) Shanna Polyakova
Former coach(es)	Svetlana Kuznetsova
Music	Phantom of the Opera (1996–2000), The Godfather Theme (2007), Pirates of the Caribbean (2006 & 2008)
Eponymous skills	Hop-full pirouette, full out dismount (uneven bars); layout-full out (floor exercise)
World ranking	Vault: 1 (2016)[1] (see archives)
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 1 0 World Championships 3 4 4 World Cup Final 1 0 1 Asian Games 2 4 2 Asian Championships 0 3 1 European Championships 1 2 1 Islamic Solidarity Games 1 0 0 Total 9 14 9 Representing the  Soviet Union World Championships 1991 Indianapolis Team 1991 Indianapolis Floor exercise 1991 Indianapolis Vault Goodwill Games 1990 Seattle Team 1990 Seattle Vault Representing  CIS World Championships 1992 Paris Vault Representing  Unified Team Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona Team Representing  Uzbekistan World Championships 2003 Anaheim Vault 2001 Ghent Vault 2005 Melbourne Vault 1993 Birmingham Vault 2002 Debrecen Vault World Cup Final 2002 Stuttgart Vault 2002 Stuttgart Balance beam Goodwill Games 2001 Brisbane Vault Asian Games 2002 Busan Vault 2002 Busan Floor exercise 2002 Busan All-around 2002 Busan Balance beam 2014 Incheon Vault 2018 Jakarta Vault 1994 Hiroshima Vault 1994 Hiroshima Uneven bars Asian Championships 1996 Changsha Vault 1996 Changsha Uneven bars 1996 Changsha Floor exercise 1996 Changsha All-around Islamic Solidarity Games 2017 Baku Vault Representing  Germany Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Vault World Championships 2011 Tokyo Vault 2006 Aarhus Vault European Championships 2008 Clermont Vault 2011 Berlin Vault 2012 Brussels Vault 2007 Amsterdam Vault

Chusovitina's career as an elite gymnast has spanned more than a quarter century. She won the USSR Junior Nationals in 1988 and began competing at the international level in 1989, before many of her current rivals were even born. She is the only female gymnast ever to compete in seven Olympic Games, and is one of only two female gymnasts to compete at the Olympics under three different national teams: the Unified Team in 1992; Uzbekistan in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2016; and Germany in 2008 and 2012. Chusovitina has also competed in 16 World Championships, four Asian Games and three Goodwill Games. Chusovitina holds the record for the most individual world championships medals on a single event (nine, on the vault).

Chusovitina is one of a few women, along with Cuban Leyanet Gonzalez, Soviet Larisa Latynina, Dutch Suzanne Harmes and Russian Aliya Mustafina to return to international competition after becoming a mother. Australia's women's head coach, Peggy Liddick, said Chusovitina is a role model and an inspiration.[2]

Soviet Union

Chusovitina began gymnastics in 1982.[3] In 1988, at the age of 13, she won the all-around title at the USSR National Championships in the junior division.

By 1990, Chusovitina was a vital member of the Soviet team, and was sent to compete in various international meets. She was the vault gold medalist at the 1990 Goodwill Games and nearly swept the 1990 World Sports Fair in Japan, winning the all-around and every event except the uneven bars. The following year she won the floor exercise at the 1991 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and placed second on the vault. In 1992 Chusovitina competed at the Olympics with the Unified Team, shared in the team gold medal and placed seventh in the floor final. She also won her second World Championships vault medal, a bronze.

Uzbekistan

After the 1992 Olympics, when the former Soviet gymnasts returned to their home republics, Chusovitina began competing for Uzbekistan and continued training with Uzbekistan head coach Svetlana Kuznetsova, also her personal coach. Conditions at the national training facility in Tashkent were a far cry from the Soviet Round Lake training center, and Chusovitina was forced to practice on antiquated, and in some cases, unsafe equipment. In spite of this setback, she was able to consistently produce world-class routines.[4][5]

Chusovitina represented Uzbekistan from 1993 to 2006 and competed for them at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics, the 1994, 1998 and 2002 Asian Games and the 1994 and 2001 Goodwill Games. During this era she was the strongest gymnast on the Uzbekistan national team, earning more than 70 medals in international competitions and qualifying to the Olympics three times.

For her contributions to gymnastics, Chusovitina was granted the title of "Honored Athlete of the Republic of Uzbekistan" by the Uzbekistan Ministry of Cultural and Sports Affairs.[6] In 2001, she was named as the first WAG representative to the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG)'s Athletes' Commission.[7] In addition, Chusovitina graduated from the Sports University in Tashkent.[8]

In late 1997 Chusovitina married Uzbek Olympic wrestler Bakhodir Kurbanov,[9] whom she first met at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.[8] The couple's son, Alisher, was born in November 1999.[3][5]

Germany

In 2002, Alisher was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).[10] Seeking advanced medical treatment for their son, Chusovitina and her husband accepted an offer of help from Shanna and Peter Brüggemann, head coaches of the Toyota Cologne club, and moved to Germany.[11] With prize money earned from gymnastics competitions, along with the help of the Brüggemanns and members of the international gymnastics community who fundraised and donated to the cause, Chusovitina was able to secure treatment for Alisher at the University of Cologne's hospital. [2][5][12][13] While Alisher underwent treatment in Cologne, Chusovitina trained with the German team.

Uzbekistan released Chusovitina to compete for Germany in 2003. However, due to rules requiring three years of residency, she was unable to gain German citizenship immediately. From 2003 to 2006 she trained in Germany but continued to compete for Uzbekistan, representing her native country at the 2003 and 2005 World Championships and the 2004 Olympics. In 2003, 12 years after her world championships debut, Chusovitina won the gold medal on the vault at that year's world championships in Anaheim.[10]

In 2006, Chusovitina obtained German citizenship.[11] Her first competition for Germany was the 2006 World Championships, where she won a bronze medal on the vault and placed ninth in the all-around.[14]

In July 2007, she won the all-around title at the 2007 German National Championships.[15] At her first European Championships, she placed second on the vault.[16] At the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart, Chusovitina helped the German squad to a 10th-place finish in the preliminary round, which qualified them to send a full team to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where she was the oldest female competitor in her discipline.[5] She qualified for the vault event final where she finished in 2nd place, thus earning the first individual Olympic medal of her career. Chusovitina competed on three events at the 2008 Women's European Championships in Clermont-Ferrand, France, helping the German team to a seventh-place finish in the team finals. In the vault event final, she defeated reigning European champion Carlotta Giovannini to win the gold medal.[17]

At the 2008 Olympics, the German team placed 12th in the qualifying round of competition. Chusovitina qualified to the individual all-around final, where she placed ninth overall.[18] She also qualified in fourth place for the vault final.[19] In the vault final, she won the silver medal with a score of 15.575.[20]

Despite earlier claims that she would attempt to compete in the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Chusovitina announced in April 2009 that she intended to only participate in the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships in October, and that she would not continue. The championships, she stated, are "enough." [21]

However, she returned to compete in some competitions in 2010 (including the 2010 Houston National Invitational). She won the silver medal on vault at the 2011 European Championships, the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 European Championships.

Chusovitina competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics for Germany.[22] The games were a remarkable sixth Olympics for Chusovitina, who qualified for the vault final where she placed in fifth behind her German teammate, Janine Berger. Afterward Oksana declared she would retire as a gymnast and concentrate on coaching.[23]

However, instead of retiring, Oksana switched back to competing for Uzbekistan. She competed at the 2016 Olympics and has qualified for the 2020 Olympics. She has stated her goal is to win an Olympic medal on vault for Uzbekistan, because she’s already won medals for the Unified Team and Germany, but not for her home country.

Recent years

Despite her statements in 2012, Chusovitina ultimately returned the following year and announced plans to continue competing through the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.[24] She went on to qualify an individual place for Uzbekistan at a qualifying event in Rio de Janeiro in April 2016.[25] By competing, she set a record as the oldest gymnast to ever compete at the Olympic Games at the age of 41 and 2 months and the only gymnast ever to compete in seven consecutive Olympiads, surpassing the record of six that she set in 2012 with Yordan Yovchev of Bulgaria. Following those Olympics, Chusovitina announced that she would continue her career with the intention of competing in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo [26]

After competing solely on vault for several years, Chusovitina announced in 2018 that she would begin competing all-around again.[27]

In 2019, Chusovitina competed at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in order to qualify for Tokyo. She had a rough turn in qualifications, falling on her second vault and on balance beam [28], but despite these errors, she ended up ranked just high enough in the all-around standings to secure one of the last all-around berths to the Olympics from that event. [29]

Skills

As a vault specialist, she is one of only a few top female vaulters in the world who does not perform a Yurchenko style vault. Instead, she competes only front handspring entry and Tsukahara-family vaults.

Eponymous skills

Apparatus	Name	Description	Difficulty	Notes
Vault	Chusovitina	Handspring forward onto table, piked salto forward with full twist off	5.0
Vault	Chusovitina	Handspring forward onto table, straight salto forward with 1.5 twists off	5.8	Despite having this skill named after her in the Code of Points, it is commonly referred to as a Rudi.
Uneven Bars	Chusovitina	Giant swing backward with hop full turn	D	This skill is also named after American gymnast Shannon Miller.
Uneven Bars	Chusovitina	Swing forward to double salto tucked with full twist in second salto	D	Also called a full-out dismount
Floor Exercise	Chusovitina	Full-twisting double layout	H

Competitive history

Chusovitina on a 2001 Uzbek stamp

Senior

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
1990	Goodwill Games
1991	World Championships
1992	World Championships						7
	Olympic Games						7
1993	World Championships		18		8
1994	Goodwill Games		5	5	5		4
	Asian Games		4			4
1995	World Championships		19	6
1996	Olympic Games		10
1998	Asian Games	4		8			6
2000	Olympic Games
2001	Goodwill Games		4
	World Championships		19
2002	Asian Games	5			4
	World Championships					8	6
	World Cup Final				5		4
2003	World Championships
2004	Olympic Games
2005	World Championships	N/A
2006	World Championships		9
2007	European Championships		6				6
	World Championships			6
2008	European Championships	7					6
	Olympic Games		9
2010	European Championships
	World Championships
2011	European Championships
	World Championships	6
2012	European Championships	8
	Olympic Games			5
2013	Internationaux de France
	Cottbus World Cup
	World Championships	N/A		5
2014	Asian Games	5
	Joaquin Blume Memorial		5
	Mexican Open				8	4	4
2015	Houston National Invitational
	Cottbus World Cup
	Ljubljana World Cup
	Varna World Cup				8	4
	World Championships
	Toyota International			7	5	6
2016	Houston National Invitational
	WOGA Classic
	Baku World Challenge Cup					8
	Cottbus World Challenge Cup				6	4
	Olympic Test Event		45
	Mersin World Challenge Cup				4
	Olympic Games			7
	2nd Bundesliga (3rd League)				5
	Mexican Open
2017	International Gymnix					6
	Baku World Cup
	Doha World Cup						8
	Islamic Solidarity Games						5
	Szombathely Challenge Cup			6
	Paris Challenge Cup			4
	World Championships	N/A		5
	2nd Bundesliga (2rd League)
	Cottbus World Cup
	Voronin Cup
2018	Houston National Invitational
	Baku World Cup
	Doha World Cup
	Osijek Challenge Cup
	Asian Games
	Paris Challenge Cup
	World Championships			4
	Arthur Gander Memorial						8
	Swiss Cup	5
	Cottbus World Cup			5
2019	Melbourne World Cup					8
	Baku World Cup
	Doha World Cup			5
	Zhaoqing Challenge Cup
	Korea Cup					4
	Paris Challenge Cup

Chusovitina also won the 1994 Goodwill Games Mixed Pairs Silver Medal with Yevgeny Shabayev, Aleksei Voropayev and Elena Grosheva.

International scores

Soviet Union

Year	Competition Description	Location	Apparatus	Rank-Final	Score-Final	Rank-Qualifying	Score-Qualifying
1991	World Championships	Indianapolis	Team	1	396.055
			All-Around			8	78.986
			Vault	2	9.918	6	19.762
			Uneven Bars			8	19.762
			Balance Beam			13	19.612
			Floor Exercise	1	9.962	4	19.850

Commonwealth of Independent States

Year	Competition Description	Location	Apparatus	Rank-Final	Score-Final	Rank-Qualifying	Score-Qualifying
1992	World Championships	Paris	Vault	3	9.937
			Vault (Semi−Final)			3	9.887
			Vault (Qualification)			4	9.875
			Floor Exercise	7	9.800
	Olympic Games	Barcelona	Team	1	395.666
			All-Around			30	78.111
			Vault			14	19.750
			Uneven Bars			77	18.849
			Balance Beam			10	19.675
			Floor Exercise	7	9.812	7	19.837

Uzbekistan

Year	Competition Description	Location	Apparatus	Rank-Final	Score-Final	Rank-Qualifying	Score-Qualifying
1993	World Championships	Birmingham	All-Around	18	37.205	12	38.030
			Vault	3	9.718	9	9.643
			Uneven Bars	8	8.325	7	9.650
			Balance Beam			19	9.437
			Floor Exercise			24	9.300
1994	Asian Games	Hiroshima	All-Around	4	38.675
			Vault	3	9.631
			Uneven Bars	3	9.600
			Balance Beam	4	9.462
1995	World Championships	Sabae	Team	16	360.515
			All-Around	18	38.180	15	76.386
			Vault	6	9.612	16	18.962
			Uneven Bars			30	19.112
			Balance Beam			17	19.012
			Floor Exercise			23	19.300
1996	Olympic Games	Atlanta	All-Around	10	38.743	30	75.822
			Vault			20	19.274
			Uneven Bars			29	19.237
			Balance Beam			61	18.137
			Floor Exercise			34	19.174
1998	Asian Games	Bangkok	Team	5	133.350
			All-Around	4
			Vault	8
			Floor Exercise	6
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney	All-Around			45	36.450
			Vault			24	9.375
			Uneven Bars			80	8.450
			Balance Beam			90	9.150
			Floor Exercise			25	9.475
2001	World Championships	Ghent	All-Around	19	35.023	17	35.524
			Vault	2	9.349	2	9.425
			Uneven Bars			65	8.162
			Balance Beam			12	8.900
			Floor Exercise			19	9.037
2002	Asian Games	Busan	Team	5	133.350
			All-Around	2	36.400	3	36.700
			Vault	1	9.450	1	9.375
			Uneven Bars	4	9.300	7	9.100
			Balance Beam	2	8.975	5	8.900
			Floor Exercise	1	9.350	1	9.325
	World Cup Final	Stuttgart	Vault	1	9.412
			Uneven Bars	5	8.387
			Balance Beam	3	9.025
			Floor Exercise	4	8.925
	World Championships	Debrecen	Vault	3	9.387
			Vault (Semi−Final)			1	9.350
			Vault (Qualification)			4	9.212
			Uneven Bars (Qualification)			30	8.200
			Balance Beam	8	8.312
			Balance Beam (Semi−Final)			6	9.200
			Balance Beam (Qualification)			10	8.862
			Floor Exercise	6	9.137
			Floor Exercise (Semi−Final)			8	9.287
			Floor Exercise (Qualification)			10	9.137
2003	World Championships	Anaheim	All-Around	WD		16	36.136
			Vault	1	9.481	4	9.424
			Uneven Bars			27	9.137
			Balance Beam			69	8.537
			Floor Exercise			30	9.025
2004	Olympic Games	Athens	Vault			23	8.800
2005	World Championships	Melbourne	Vault	2	9.418	3	9.381
			Uneven Bars			23	8.987
			Balance Beam			12	8.962

Germany

Year	Competition Description	Location	Apparatus	Rank-Final	Score-Final	Rank-Qualifying	Score-Qualifying
2006	World Championships	Aarhus	Team			16	222.125
			All-Around	9	58.950	10	59.075
			Vault	3	15.100	4	14.937
			Uneven Bars			19	14.800
			Balance Beam			28	14.850
			Floor Exercise			25	14.400
2007	European Championships	Amsterdam	All-Around	6	57.450	11	56.700
			Vault	2	14.725	3	14.237
			Uneven Bars			24	13.525
			Balance Beam			9	15.150
			Floor Exercise	6	14.450	8	14.450
	World Championships	Stuttgart	Team			10	231.125
			All-Around			157	43.525
			Vault	6	14.687	5	15.375
			Uneven Bars			89	13.550
			Balance Beam			59	14.275
			Floor Exercise			189	0.000
2008	European Championships	Clermont-Ferrand	Team	7	170.850	6	173.650
			Vault	1	14.812	1	15.000
			Balance Beam			10	14.975
			Floor Exercise	6	14.850	5	15.000
	Olympic Games	Beijing	Team			12	230.800
			All-Around	9	60.125	14	59.375
			Vault	2	15.575	4	15.525
			Uneven Bars			27	14.725
			Balance Beam			43	14.400
			Floor Exercise			30	14.450
2010	European Championships	Birmingham	Team			9	156.025
			Vault			12	13.625
	World Championships	Rotterdam	Team			14	212.294
			Balance Beam			42	13.566
2011	European Championships	Berlin	Vault	2	14.537	5	14.200
			Balance Beam			45	12.425
	World Championships	Tokyo	Team	6	168.479	7	221.163
			Vault	2	14.733	2	14.833
			Balance Beam			41	13.800
2012	European Championships	Brussels	Team	8	160.497	7	163.022
			Vault	2	14.683	1	14.966
	Olympic Games	London	Team			9	167.331
			Vault	5	14.783	4	14.808
			Balance Beam			31	13.700

Return to Uzbekistan

Year	Competition Description	Location	Apparatus	Rank-Final	Score-Final	Rank-Qualifying	Score-Qualifying
2013	World Championships	Antwerp	Vault	5	14.583	6	14.750
2014	Asian Games	Incheon	Team	5	199.800
			Vault	2	14.750	2	14.675
2015	World Championships	Glasgow	All-Around			51	52.998
			Vault			13	14.683
			Uneven Bars			120	12.033
			Balance Beam			47	13.466
			Floor Exercise			118	12.733
2016	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro	Vault	7	14.833	5	14.999
2018	Asian Games	Jakarta Palembang	Vault	2	14.287	3	14.200

Year-end world rankings

Vault

2010: #9[30]
2011: #1[31]
2013: #1[32]
2015: #1[33]

Beam

2010: #28
2013: #24
2015: #45

Floor

2015: #7

See also

• List of top medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

References

1. http://www.fig-gymnastics.com/site/page/view?id=254
2. Pearce, Linda (22 November 2005). "Love for her son drives Olympic medallist on". The Age. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
3. "In our Spotlight: Oksana Chusovitina". International Gymnast. February 2001. Archived from the original on 17 April 2001. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
4. "Photo report on the Tashkent Training Center". Official Team UZB Web. Archived from the original on 1 June 2000. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
5. Turner, Amanda (19 June 2008). "Ageless Chusovitina Turns 33". International Gymnast. Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
6. "Our Stars". Ministry of Cultural and Sports Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Archived from the original on 3 September 2006. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
7. "IG Online interview: Oksana Chusovitina". International Gymnast. 2001. Archived from the original on 6 October 2001. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
8. "For petite gymnast, burly wrestler, it was a match made at the Games". Associated Press. 6 October 2002. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
9. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Oksana Chusovitina". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
10. "German women, Chusovitina, tune up in Utah". International Gymnast. 31 July 2003. Archived from the original on 27 February 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
11. Wessel, Markus (31 January 2007). "Kleine Frau, großes Herz". WDR.DE. Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
12. "Gymnastics community rallies to help sick child". International Gymnast. 26 October 2002. Archived from the original on 21 November 2002. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
13. "Oxana Chusovitina spurred on by son's illness". Reuters. October 2002. Archived from the original on 12 April 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
14. "Uzbekistan veteran Chusovitina to compete for Germany". Xinhua/People's Daily Online. 15 October 2006. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
15. "Chusovitina, Hambüchen Win German Nationals". International Gymnast. 22 July 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
16. "Chusovitina springt unglücklich an Gold vorbei". Sport.de. 6 April 2007. Archived from the original on 12 April 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
17. Turner, Amanda (6 April 2008). "Four Nations Golden as Europeans Conclude". International Gymnast. Archived from the original on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
18. "Results – All Around Women's Individual Final". The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. 15 August 2008. Archived from the original on 18 August 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
19. "Team qualifying round apparatus scores". NBC Olympics. 10 August 2008. Archived from the original on 17 August 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
20. "Vault event final scores". NBC Olympics. 17 August 2008. Archived from the original on 18 August 2008. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
21. "Chusovitina hat das Ende ihrer Karriere vor Augen". Focus Magazin. 9 April 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
22. Sancetta, Amy (26 July 2012). "At 37, gymnast Chusovitina still a medal contender". USA Today. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
23. Gymnastics: Chusovitina ends inspirational career happy, healthy. Reuters, 5 August 2012
24. OLYMPIC IDOL AWARD for Oksana Chusovitina … and her sensational remarks ...! GYMmedia, 31 October 2012
26. LiubovB (15 September 2017). "For Chusovitina, the 2017 Worlds are the first step to Tokyo". Gymnovosti. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
27. "Oksana Chusovitina To Compete AA In 2018 With New Bar Skill". www.flogymnastics.com. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
28. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2019/10/04/gymnastics-44-year-old-gymnast-bubble-tokyo-olympics/3864212002/
29. https://gymnasticsresults.com/results/2020/olympics/qualification/documents/qualifiers-after-2019-wag.pdf
30. http://www.fig-gymnastics.com/site/files/page/editor/files/WAG-World-Ranking-2010-CIII.pdf
31. http://www.fig-gymnastics.com/site/files/page/editor/files/All-WAG-Archives-2011.pdf
32. http://www.fig-gymnastics.com/site/files/page/editor/files/WAG-World-Ranking-2013-CIII.pdf
33. http://www.fig-gymnastics.com/site/files/page/editor/files/2015%20WAG%20CIII%20WR%20Archives.pdf

External links

• Oxana Chusovitina at the International Gymnastics Federation
• List of competitive results
• Chusovitina (Floor Exercise skills)