TOKYO — Even after eight Olympics, no one was ready to see Oksana Chusovitina say goodbye.
The 46-year-old gymnast got a standing ovation from her fellow gymnasts Sunday 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.
Before she left the floor, Chusovitina posed for photos with about a dozen gymnasts, many of whom are even younger than her 22-year-old son.
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“It was really nice,” she said. “I cried tears of happiness because so many people have supported me for a long time.”
Chusovitina has been competing for so long that she represented the Soviet Union at her first world championships, in 1991, and the Unified Team at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. She also competed for Germany as a way to thank the country for the medical treatment her son, Alisher, received there when he had childhood leukemia.
She now competes for Uzbekistan.
Though Chusovitina has said before that she was done competing, only to show up at the next world championships or Olympics, she insists that won’t happen now.
“I’m 46 years old,” she said, laughing. “Nothing is going to change my mind.”
