Why will 49-year-old Oksana Chusovitina not compete at Paris Olympics 2024? All about the oldest gymnast's recent professional pursuits

Oksana Chusovitina was all set to make her ninth appearance at the Games during the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, the 49-year-old gymnast's dream was shattered after sustaining an injury, almost 50 days before the Olympics.

She holds a remarkable record of being the only female gymnast who has competed in eight Olympic editions, representing three national teams, including the Unified Team in 1992; Uzbekistan in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2016, and 2020; and Germany in 2008 and 2012.

She secured a gold medal in the team event at the 2024 Barcelona Olympics as a 17-year-old and a silver medal in the vault at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Chusovitina was geared up to represent Uzbekistan at the 2024 Rhythmic Gymnastics Asian Championships slated in May.

However, the gymnast sustained a severe injury during a floor exercise training session, forcing her to stop competing in what was her last opportunity to compete in Paris. She informed her fans about her withdrawal from the Championships in Tashkent on social media and wrote,

"I have some sad news for you. Yesterday, while training on the podium of the Asian Championships, which is taking place in Tashkent and is a qualifying event for the Olympic Games in Paris, I was injured during the floor exercise. I will not be able to take part."

"I still want to see whether I can do this" - Oksana Chusovitina sets her sight on 2028 LA Olympics

Unfazed by the adversity she faced ahead of the Paris Olympics, Oksana Chusovitina has fixed her gaze on making her ninth appearance at Games at the 2028 LA Games.

Chusovitina will be a 53-year-old gymnast if she qualifies for LA Games. During an interview with the Olympics, she stated that she wanted to change the notion that "Gymnastics is for young people." Further, she expressed her deep urge to qualify for the Games at her seasoned age.

"I want to prove to myself," Chusovitina said. "I’m fighting with myself, and I still want to see whether I can do this or not. I really want to qualify for the Olympics, specifically at this age, and overcome all this talk that gymnastics is only for young people. I want to show that if a female gymnast wants to train, if she likes it, why should she retire if she is 30 years old."

Apart from her Olympic medals, Oksana Chusovitina also has 11 World Championships medals, with the most recent one of them being a silver medal in 2011.