Skip to content

41-year-old gymnast breaking records, keeping pace with the kids

Reuters

There's no stopping 41-year-old gymnast Oksana Chusovitina.

Competing in her seventh Olympics - a record for a gymnast - Chusovitina put herself in position to make the vault final after averaging 14.999 during her two vaults at women's preliminaries on Sunday. The top eight qualifiers will advance to the event finals later in the games.

Chusovitina's first appearance in the games came 24 years ago in Barcelona, when she competed for the Russian Federated team. She now competes for her native Uzbekistan against girls the age of her 17-year-old son Alisher. Chusovitina says she tries not to think about the ever-growing age gap between herself and the rest of the field.

"Well, when I compete on the podium, if they gave a few more marks for the age, it would have been great," Chusovitina said. "Otherwise, well, we're all equal and we just have to compete against each other as equals."

Chusovitina said she would retire after failing to medal in London four years ago but kept on going. Even Alisher is wondering if his mom will ever stop. When he asked her recently if this was her final go-round, she joked "wait and see honey."

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox