Oksana Chusovitina (GER) : 2008 Beijing Olympics : EF VT

[xrictinagymnastics]

Commentator says: "same vault we just saw form Alicia Sacramone" just to mention that Oksana actually invented that vault, she has it named after her

[Planetimage2]

She competed the longest for female gymnast, true queen of gymnastics!

[bloomingkary]

How does she keep up the work? I mean after so many years, she doesn't seem to be burning out or anything... she's awsome.

[VoidDeluxe]

respect!

i love her age, her look, and the fact that she did it for her son is pretty awesome as well <3

[Yuri92001]

Wouldn't that just be badass if she won gold in 2012? I saw her vault at the 2011 European championship....not bad...she is getting her vaults back. If she could only clean up her form JUUUST a smidgen she could be a contender still! I wonder if she is going to worlds this year?

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

@Yuri92001 She definately is. Not too long ago, she said she has a vault never done by a woman before. Could be the front layout 2/1 that ASac has. Or maybe a Tsuk 2.5?

[MrBezza2009]

she's in her 30's and still looks good in a leotard

[kayper54]

Is that John Tesh commentating? It just sounds like him, but I thought he left his television career behind back in the '90's.

[Lana2k6]

@kayper54 He did. I remember he left Entertainment Tonight (and his NBC Sports commentator role) in either 1996 or '97 to pursue his music career. That would be Al Trautwig commentating here.

[kayper54]

@Lana2k6 Thank you! Al just sounds a little bit like John Tesh, to me. I actually was paying very little to attention to gymnastics about the time Tesh left, so I didn't know who replaced him. (Tesh drove my hubby a little nuts during the '92 Olympics; he said that if he heard Tesh utter the words "the Belarussian Swan" about Boginskaya one more time he was going to toss the the TV out the window. ;)

[kayper54]

Wow, she is in AMAZING shape, for any age, let alone at 33 and after having a baby.

[gymnist2009]

@kras188 i heard somewhere that back in 1992 that she had to compete 2 years younger than she really was so she wasnt "17" in barcalona

[cutechilean]

@gymnist2009 Her age is correct, i met her after the olympics in a tour in Chile and was presented as the youngest gymnast with 14

[PoorPublicSchoolKid]

She is a handsome woman.

[sbar17]

loooove herrr<3<3<3 shes soooo amazing :) so inspiring

[msms68]

love her

[brdbarreira]

She deserver the gold, Alicia the silver, and the bronze could be Hong's

[gymnist2009]

The thing is she wasnt 33 her she was acutally 35!!

[kras118]

@gymnist2009 ?? what do you mean she was 35 in '08?

[zephyr7wild]

@georgert there is no rule that says you have to wear long sleeves, gymnasts can wear whatever they want, its just customary to wear long sleeves.

[matthewxcountry]

@NurdyRhythm I think she has competed this long because of necessity, with her son requiring giant medical bills this was her best option to make money. Many gymnasts try to make comebacks in their late twenties and probably would have been more successful if they trained through their off period. Gymnastics is really grueling and my guess is that most people give up after their first couple of Olympics. I think it might even be more mental than physical.

[xjpl84]

....what better gift to give to Germany in return for helping her with her son than a Olympic Silver Medal...

[georgert]

A small point, but I thought women wore long sleeve leotards in competition. Are OG competitions different?

[causticstorm]

This woman is my hero and motivator. I think I'm going to watch this video every day.

[Kulpa71]

What an inspiration

[PoorPublicSchoolKid]

It was refreshing to see someone not do a yurchenko in these finals.

[NurdyRhythm]

I wonder if Chusovitina is an exception to the rule, or if it really is possible, with the right training schedule, for all gymnasts to have such a strong career through their twenties and even into their thirties? Maybe if gymnasts' training was spread more widely they wouldn't wear down their bodies so much by the age of twenty.

[LCAmarkymark]

@NurdyRhythm She was probably training like she was still in the Soivet Union she has done a great job

[brdbarreira]

@NurdyRhythm She's still competing because her son has leuchemia. They were from Uzbekistan, so Oksana went to Germany, where she competes for the country and his son has treatment of higher quality.

[prettyblondbarbie]

its wonderfull

[ewandrof1]

MAN? OR WOMAN?

[ok2kok]

looks abit like a man didnt she

[erin592]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why she never does yurchenko vaults? Was she never able to learn them well enough to compete them?

[lanpingpug]

@erin592 I'm pretty sure she can do them but she is just better without that sort of entry as others seem to allow her to build up more power. That said, her equipment when she trained in Uzbekistan was supposed to be really old and in some places dangerous so maybe she feels better without having to put her hands on the springboard and have her back to the vault.

[xoxpurpledolphinsxox]

@javajunkie6 that is most definately not a tsuk. she gous into a fronthandspring first...

[xoxpurpledolphinsxox]

okay, nvm. your right. i did realise that the second one was a tsuk. i think that its a possibility that i only saw the first one...

though for me i have always done the same vault twice. i realise i have not been to the olympics, and that may be a rule there, but for the level i did get to, i always did the same vault 2 times

[MisanthropistPro]

@xoxpurpledolphinsxox Oh, I see. It's cool. At least you've had the opportunity to compete. I haven't had the opportunity. It's saddening. =\

[emilliieee]

i love thats shes 33 and still can win olympic silver

[RUSSIANRED1]

What's the name of 2nd vault?

[javajunkie6]

double twisting tsukahara

[Gymya100]

not very elegant

[MisanthropistPro]

@Gymya100 Geez. She's 33. And since when is the vault about elegance?

[sinhutabes]

ask to PAvlova!! shes elegant on every little thing she does!! however I love chuso!!

[00alecgarci]

@MisanthropistPro I love her and gymnastics (no offense) is all about beauty, elegance, athletisism (dont even know if thats a word), and grace. EVERY EVENT. MALE OF FEMALE GYMNASTICS

and I love this woman shes an inspiration for everyone