The Paper's reporter Ma Zuoyu and Pu Yaolei are from Tokyo intern Yu Kaicheng
Chusovkina officially bid farewell to the arena.
"At the podium, everyone is the same, whether you're 40 or 16."
Gymnastics flows in Chusovykina's blood, once was, and is now - in the women's gymnastics qualifier that just ended on the 25th, the 46-year-old Chusovykina scored 14.166 points and missed the vault final.
When she finished the final jump, there was a loud applause from the audience, and players from many other countries also came forward to greet her.
This was chusovykina's last leap to the world, and the legend went through 30 years.
Chusovkina wiped her tears.
"Tokyo Olympics will be my last jump"
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, 41-year-old Chusovkina represented her native Uzbekistan.
She used the "Death Jump" in the vault final, when only 5 people in the world successfully completed it, and her desperate attempt ended in failure when she landed, but unexpectedly got the shouts of the audience.
And what remained on that wrinkled face was an unspeakable regret — the audience knew in their hearts that she was not only playing against her opponents, but also fighting herself and time.
In the end, Chusovkina stopped in seventh place, and the winning "Black Pearl" Byers was a full 22 years younger than her, and even two years younger than her son Alisher.
Byers was full of admiration for her, "She is so great, if I were her, I certainly wouldn't be able to last so long, I guess at most 30 years old will be over." 」 ”
Chusovykina made her final leap in Tokyo.
Although she did not win a medal in Rio, in order to pay tribute to the Olympic spirit of this struggle in Chusovkina, the organizers invited her to stand on the podium and broadcast a highlight of her wonderful performances at the Olympic Games.
And this moment of tribute seems to have come a little early.
At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, the 43-year-old Chusovkina arrived with the hope of defending her title, and the vault final was still her home. In the middle of the "post-00s", she was 2.68 times older than all the players – in the end, she won the silver medal.
At that time, there was a voice in her heart calling, to jump to the Tokyo Olympic Games, for her family, for the motherland, for the love of gymnastics.
In 2019, Chusovkina qualified for the Tokyo Olympics as she wished. But the impact of the epidemic led to the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which disrupted the preparation rhythm of all athletes, and the optimistic Chusovkina still decided to enjoy the last dance music for her at the Olympic games.
"I've always planned to end my career after the Tokyo Olympics, and now I don't want to change my plans, it just means preparing for another season in the gymnasium."
From for the sake of the son, to the sake of himself
"When I was young, I competed only to pursue results. When my son got sick, I had to play games to earn money to treat my son. But now, I can finally enjoy the game as a pleasure and have a great deal of joy. I'm now playing for myself. ”
Chusovkina wore the uniforms of three different countries to the Olympic Games (CIS delegation, Germany and Uzbekistan), which is unique in the history of the Olympic Games. Behind this magical record, however, lies her tortuous story.
At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, at the age of 17, Chusovykina won the women's gymnastics team gold medal for the CIS. Subsequently, she won two consecutive medals at the Gymnastics World Championships.
But when her two-year-old son contracted leukemia, everything changed.
Chusovkina and her son.
Bad luck befell the mother – in order to save her child, in order to repay the treatment fee of up to 120,000 euros, she forced herself to develop into gymnastics all-rounder, sometimes she would compete in all women's events, in order to get more prize money.
"I think I have to get back on the field and I have to make money for Alyosha."
Chusovkina once said that a gold medal at the World Championships means 3,000 euros in prize money, and in order to treat her son, she must endure the pain and insist on participating in all competitions, just to get more prize money.
Later, the German gymnastics community reached out, not only raising money for Alyosha to treat her illness, but also helping Chusovykina to resume gymnastics training.
To be thankful, she became a German citizen in 2006 and represented the German gymnastics team at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. At the Beijing Olympics, she won the silver medal with her named "Chusovkina Jump", germany's first Olympic silver medal in gymnastics in 62 years.
But many Uzbeks did not understand and even called her a "traitor". Chusovkina didn't explain too much, just suffered in silence—"Germany has done so much for me, and I can only repay it like this." ”
Even more fortunately, Beijing became a blessed place for ChusovyKina – "When I returned to my motherland after participating in the Beijing Olympics, they informed me that my son had fully recovered." ”
After a big stone in her heart landed, Chusovykina could finally fight for herself, for love.
In 2012, she finished fifth in the vaulting final at the London Olympics, but still received the warmest applause from the audience. After returning home, Chusovkina once again announced her retirement, but this was only an impulsive decision.
"The night before I told everyone I was retiring, but when I woke up the next morning, I changed my mind."
In 2013, Chusovykina applied to leave Her German citizenship and reinstate her Uzbek citizenship. Three years later, at the Rio Olympics, she represented her motherland and became a legend in the eyes of everyone, and let people see her love for gymnastics again.
"I don't know how much I have any potential, I just love the sport. I love bringing joy to the audience and I enjoy every performance I have on the field. ”
Chusovykina, radiant.
The flag that was taken away has long been in the hearts of the world
Chusovkina was selected as Uzbekistan's female standard-bearer at the Tokyo Olympics, and let the legendary figure who showed the Olympic spirit raise the flag, which was originally expected by everyone, but she did not expect that she encountered a "flag bearer storm".
A few hours before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, Chusovykina, who participated in the Olympics for the eighth time, was informed by the Uzbekistan delegation that she had been stripped of her standard-bearer qualifications – taekwondo female Tursun Kulova took her place and walked at the front of the line.
Before the Tokyo Olympics, Chusovkina was very much looking forward to the wonderful moment of entering as a standard-bearer, after all, it would be her last Olympic Games.
The coach hugged Chusovkina.
When she learned that her standard-bearer identity had been replaced, Chusovykina was quite angry, saying in an interview: "No one explained the reason to me at all, just told me that I did not have to go, and my enthusiasm for the competition was hit and stifled." We're all human beings, and they shouldn't do that! ”
Chusovykina's press spokesman, Beloli Petsky, was also furious in an interview with the media: "The story of her participation and the flag bearer has spread, but now, can you imagine her state at this moment?" Why let a world gymnastics legend be so humiliated? ”
Uzbekistan's operation is incomprehensible – this flag represents not only Chusovykina's achievements and contributions, but also her unwillingness to compromise with her 46-year-old self and her constant insistence on remaining competitive...
And as in london and Rio's Olympic games, even though Chusovkina failed to delist, she was still recognized by the audience.
Even if the person who raised the flag of Uzbekistan was not Chusovkina, she had won the applause of the world and deservedly carried the banner that symbolized the Olympic spirit.
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas