Oksana Chusovitina, one of the legends of sports gymnastics, plans to participate in the Los Angeles-2028 Summer Olympic Games.
Idman.biz reports that the 49-year-old Uzbek gymnast announced this to the press service of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Chusovitina needed to compete and finish as the highest eligible athlete in the all-around standings in order to earn a quota to what would have been her ninth Olympic appearance.
"My dear friends, fans and everyone who loves Gymnastics! Unfortunately, I have some sad news for you," Chusovitina wrote on Instagram. "Yesterday, while training on the podium of the Asian Championships, which is taking place in Tashkent and is a qualifying event for the Olympic Games in Paris, I was injured during the floor exercise. I will not be able to take part and I am very upset as I have been preparing for this competition for a long time.
"I started doing all-around and I wanted to perform in our country, in front of our fans," she continued. "But, unfortunately, tomorrow you will not see me among the participants. I would like to express my gratitude to all of you, but you can come and support our girls. That's what I'm going to do tomorrow!"
The Olympic gold medallist knew the difficult task she faced in obtaining a quota for the Olympics, but never backed down.
“The main thing is not to give up,” Chusovitina said in an Instagram post featuring a montage of her preparation ahead of the event.
It should be noted that Chusovitina is the gold medalist of Barcelona-1992 and silver medalist of Beijing-2008.
Idman.biz