Gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, 51, Sets Sights on Competing in Her Ninth Olympics: ‘I Will Perform as Long as I Can’

• Oksana Chusovitina said she will “try to qualify” for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which would be her ninth Olympic appearance
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• Chusovitina, 51, finished fourth in qualifying for the vault final at the Asian Games on Tuesday, Sept. 22

• “As long as I’m enjoying it, as long as I can do it, why do I need to stop?” Chusovitina asked reporters after the event

Oksana Chusovitina said she will “try to qualify” for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which would be her ninth Olympic appearance

Chusovitina, 51, finished fourth in qualifying for the vault final at the Asian Games on Tuesday, Sept. 22

“As long as I’m enjoying it, as long as I can do it, why do I need to stop?” Chusovitina asked reporters after the event

Three decades after her first Olympic appearance, 51-year-old Oksana Chusovitina has her sights set on competing in her ninth Games.

The Uzbekistan gymnast qualified for the vault final in the 2026 Asian Games on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Chusovitina came in fourth place with a score of 13.266.

Speaking to reporters after the event, Chusovitina said, “I will try to qualify for 2028,” per Olympics.com. “It’s sport, it’s gymnastics. If it’s possible, I will try to compete at LA28. So yes, I will try to qualify,” she added.

Oksana Chusovitina on Sept. 22, 2026
Credit: Toru Hanai/Getty

Chusovitina also joked with the media, “What, you don’t want to see me anymore?” following the vault event.

“As long as I’m enjoying it, as long as I can do it, why do I need to stop?” Chusovitina said, continuing, “I’m feeling great and it’s great to perform here when we have so many fans and so much support from the spectators, and I will perform as long as I can. I’m not competing with anyone. I’m just enjoying the process.”

She added that she’s “getting more pleasure and excitement” from competing at this stage of her career. “I’m just enjoying the competition. Finally, after all these years, I am starting to have positive emotions and pleasure from gymnastics,” said Chusovitina, who won a gold medal in her first Olympic Games in 1992.

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Chusovitina won silver in vault at the 2008 Games in Beijing, and became the first female gymnast to reach seven Olympics when she competed in Rio in 2016.

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