The more things change, the more they stay the same. No athlete better illustrates that adage than 49-year-old artistic gymnast Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan.
The legendary eight-time Olympian won her 16th vault medal in 21 appearances at the Cottbus World Cup on Saturday (22 February), taking bronze.
She finished with an average score of 13.249, a half-tenth behind Slovenia’s Teja Belak, who won gold with 13.299. Tjasa Kysselef, also of Slovenia, was the silver medallist with 13.266.
Chusovitina’s performance is her first since an injury at the 2024 Asian Championships, her final chance to qualify for a historic ninth Olympic Games at Paris 2024.
“Right now, I feel fantastic. All the bad stuff is over, everything has healed. I tried not to overdo it, to approach the recovery slowly, and I think I have gained my form back, more or less,” Chusovitina told Olympics.com ahead of the competition. “Of course, I’m not at 100 percent, but I’m physically prepared to compete in Cottbus.”
The 1992 Olympic team champion owns 11 gold medals on vault from Cottbus.
Zhang Kexin of the People’s Republic of China was the winner in the women’s uneven bars final, scoring 13.900 ahead of Team GB’s Charlotte Booth (13.300). Japan’s Yamada Chiharu was third with 13.033.
