Olympic Gymnast Oksana Chusovitina who won silver in the vault at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was also a part of the gold medal-winning Unified team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. This year, despite her age, she is determined to participate in the championships that will qualify her for the Olympics.

Given her experience as a veteran gymnast, Oksana Chusovitina is one of the few people who can inspire confidence in another athlete’s heart in crucial times. This is exactly what happened at the Doha World Cup where the 48-year-old helped out a rising 18-year-old in her time of need. 

Chusovitina’s impact on a gymnast’s journey to Paris Olympics 2024

In an interview published on Inside Gymnastics, Levi Jung-Ruivivar said that throughout the first three World Cups, she competed a 5.5 difficulty routine but for Doha, she did a 5.8 routine after seeing just how prepared her competitors were. But she was not daunted as she received from an unexpected person. Oksana Chusovitina gave her a pep talk before the bars in Doha.

Levi explained further on the incident, “She looked at me and said ‘you can do this, you got this. You can do anything one time. You can do it. Just remember to squeeze your butt, just squeeze your butt no matter what, okay. You can do it.’ And I was like ‘Okay.’ And then, I said to my coach, ‘no matter what happens out there, the fact that Oksana said I can do it, that just was a highlight of my day.”

This inspired Levi and the 18-year-old was able to succeed. At the World Cup, Jung-Ruivivar was able to win a silver medal in the uneven bars event. She scored 13.633 points, with an execution score of 7.833 and a difficulty of 5.8. Ruivivar had previously participated under the Filipino flag across the events at Cairo, Cottbus and Baku. Her performance in Doha, fuelled by Oksana’s words of encouragement, earned her an Olympic berth at the Paris Summer Games. Her qualification is being celebrated by her alma mater Stanford Gymnastics as well.

Oksana’s determination for the Paris Olympics reflects resilience, perseverance, and the true spirit of athletic excellence and ambition.

Determination to overcome criticism for her qualification bid

The gymnast from Uzbekistan is aiming to compete in her 9th Olympic games this year. At her age, she is arguably past the age of sports prime. She has won 11 world championship medals since 1991, and eight Asian Games medals since 1994. In the Tokyo Games of 2020, she had initially announced her retirement after becoming the oldest player to compete. However, she’s back for another hand at glory.

Despite her age, Oksana is physically fit and trains hard. Her journey however is not easy. This year at the World Olympic Series, she missed out on qualifying to the Olympics because she ranked 5th. Additionally, even in the Asian Championships, her chances of qualifying were slim since she placed 18th in the all-around event hosted in her home country.

Despite the setbacks, Oksana said, “I just can’t get enough of it. I mean, I like the process. I like everything about Sports, gymnastics. I like the atmosphere of competitions. I even like the training process. It is my air to breathe. I don’t bother anyone. So why should I stop?” Clearly, Oksana Chusovitina is not paying criticism any heed as she continues on her path towards the Paris Games in August.