If you want to ask the most popular and most embodying the Olympic spirit of this Asian Games, it is Chusovikina, who is affectionately called "Qiu Ma" by Chinese audiences. The 48-year-old gymnastics legend is the best expression of the Olympic spirit and the indomitable struggle of mankind from the moment he takes to the Olympic stage.
This article will use more than 4,000 words to lead readers to understand in more detail the legendary life of this indomitable veteran and heroic mother.
Gifted and young
In 1975, a little girl was born in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, USSR, and her parents named her Oksana Alexandrovna Chusovykina (Оксана Александровна Чусовитина). In childhood, Chusovykina physically showed flexibility superior to that of her peers. In order not to waste the talent of Sovikina Chu, when she was 7 years old, her parents sent her to a gymnastics school to practice gymnastics. The training in the sports school is naturally hard, but Sovikina Chu can keep up with the progress of the training very well. In training day after day, the coach found that Chu Sovikina has super leg strength and good physical coordination, which is undoubtedly a good seedling for practicing various gymnastics events, especially vaulting.
Chusovikina as a teenager
At the age of 13, Chusovykina, who had been training hard for 6 years, finally came to the moment to show her ability for the first time. At the Soviet Union Junior Gymnastics All-Around Championships that year, she overwhelmed the crowd and won her first gold medal. Due to her beautiful performance, Chusovykina was accepted by the Soviet gymnastics national team after the competition.
In 1991, at the age of 16, Chusovykina competed at the World Gymnastics Championships in the United States, and the age of 16 was when gymnasts began to perform in international competitions. Although the Soviet Union in 1991 was on its way, Chusovykina's national gymnastics team fought for her weak homeland at the World Championships. Chusovikina won two gold medals in women's team and floor exercise, her first world championship. In that floor exercise competition, Chusovykina's performance was so brilliant that she even created a move named after her name - "straight backflip plus 360-degree rotation for two weeks", which was a difficult move in Group F of floor exercise. Later in her career, Chusovykina will create 4 more difficult moves that bear her name.
Between 1993 and 2006, Chusovykina won more than 70 medals in events large and small
In 1992, when the Soviet Union had disintegrated, Chusovykina joined the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States, which after the collapse of the Soviet Union, consisting of 9 countries including Belarus, Russia, and Uzbekistan, was a transitional organization) delegation from the Barcelona Olympic Games as a native Uzbekistan. In this competition, Chusovykina and the other team members won the gymnastics team gold medal, which was her first Olympic gold medal.
In 1996, Chusovykina represented her native Uzbekistan at the Atlanta Olympics, but unfortunately she only finished tenth in the individual all-around.
Great mother, indomitable soul
Gymnastics is a sport that eats youth, and athletes are at their peak in the four or five years from the ages of 15 or 6 to their early 20s. After the Atlanta Olympics, Chusovykina was 21 years old, at this time she had won the world championships and Olympic gold medals, which is an achievement that countless athletes can not achieve in a lifetime, and it is a good choice to retire at this time, and the main thing is that she met a man who loved her very much - wrestler Kopanov.
Chusovykina and husband Kopanov
After retiring from the military, Chusovykina married Kopanov, and in 1999 the two had a lovely son. This supposedly happy family of three ushered in a change when their son was three years old, thinking it was a minor illness, but the child was diagnosed with congenital leukemia, and Chusovykina's sky seemed to fall.
The cost of treatment was about 120,000 euros (not including daily medication and dialysis), which was astronomical in poor Uzbekistan at the time. The couple spent all their savings, but only a drop in the bucket. Soon the couple even sold the house, but their son's illness did not improve at all. In desperation, Chusovykina asked the government for help, hoping that the government could help her in the glory of the country, and after many rounds, bitter pleas and exhaustions, the Uzbek government, which also had little money, reluctantly allocated her $15,000, but this $15,000 could only sustain her son's dialysis and medication for a period of time. In order to raise money as quickly as possible, Chusovikina once again turned her eyes to gymnastics. For winning a gold medal in a world-class competition, the Uzbek government promised a prize of 3,000 euros.
Alyosha, son of Chusovykina
In 2002, shortly after her son's diagnosis, Chusovykina, who had retired for six years, decided to return to compete at the Busan Asian Games in the same year. At the age of 27, she was definitely "old" in the gymnastics world, and she will be joined by a group of teenagers and twenties who are at the peak of their careers. To add insult to injury, due to the lack of time, Chusovykina will only have a few months to recover her fitness and condition.
As she ages, decreases, and stiffens her limbs, Chusovykina will encounter much more difficulties in her recovery, and the slightest mistake may cause her to fall and injure herself and become severely disabled. During the preparation, in order to win gold in as many events as possible, Chusovykina also adjusted her competition plan, not only practicing her best vault, but also training hard in gymnastics all-around.
Chusovykina at the Busan Asian Games
At the Busan Asian Games, the veterans were amazed, and at such an "advanced age", Chusovykina won two gold medals in vault and floor exercise! Not only were the spectators amazed, but the German gymnastics team outside the stadium also paid more attention to Chusovykina, and the weak German gymnastics team needed a veteran with excellent experience and ability to improve the level.
Chusovykina quickly took the gold medal and demanded the promised prize money from the government, but the poor and corrupt sports department of Uzbekistan even withheld the 6,000 euros in life-saving money, and did not distribute it for various reasons. Chusovykina is angry and desperate, and she has to maintain her daily training every day and take time to go to the hospital to take care of her son, and she is exhausted and she can't afford to pull the prize money anymore.
Medical conditions in Uzbekistan are very limited, Chusovykina kept asking which hospitals in Europe are good at treating cancer and tumors, and finally learned that there is a cancer hospital in Cologne, Germany, which is very good at treating leukemia, and of course, its medical costs are also surprisingly high. Fortunately, there is no way to go. The local sports club in Cologne knew about Chusovikina's plight, and the members of the club all admired the veteran's tenacious spirit and great maternal love, and called on various local sports clubs and associations to donate money, and finally helped Chusovikina solve the cost of the operation. After the operation, the child's condition has not been completely cured, but it has improved.
Chusovikina with her son in a German hospital
The German gymnastics team is not very strong, and they are in great need of an experienced and seasoned athlete. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many countries competed for talents in various fields of the Soviet Union. As early as 1996, Germany threw an olive branch to Chusovykina, but Chusovykina, who loves her motherland, did not want to miss the opportunity to wear the uniform of her country to win glory for her country (the 1992 Olympics were participated as a CIS delegation), although she did not win a medal for her country at that Olympics.
This time Chusovikina came to Germany, the German sports department naturally did not want to miss the opportunity, once again threw her an olive branch full of sincerity, not only provided a free training place, but also promised that as long as she was willing to compete for Germany, the hospital would arrange for her son to do follow-up surgery for free.
Just as Chusovykina hesitated, the Uzbek government did another very undignified thing. The Uzbek government, which is already scarce of elite athletes, did not want to lose Chusovykina, a strong athlete, and because it was afraid that she would not return if she went to Germany, it tried to use the media to create a campaign, promote Chusovykina as a national hero, and try to kidnap Chusovykina with public morality.
Chusovykina fell into deep pain and entanglement, and the Germans sent a generous gift to help her son heal, but she inexplicably fell into a moral vortex. If you abandon your nationality and fight for Germany, you will definitely bear a lot of infamy from the motherland. Although Chusovikina was to see her son, at the speed at which information spread at the time, how many people could understand her suffering? Even knowing her plight, how many people could sympathize with her in an era of economic depression, social unrest, and rising nationalist sentiment in Uzbekistan?
If a gymnast needs to fight for another country, he must first meet the three-year rule set by the International Gymnastics Federation, and Chusovykina decides to take one step at a time during this three-year period.
In November 2002, Chusovikina participated in the 36th World Gymnastics Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. She competed in all four events, reached the finals, and also won a bronze medal on vault, successfully showing the Germans what she could do. In 2003, Chusovykina once again created a difficult move that bears her name, the women's vault "front hand flip straight front flip body 540 degree spin".
Although Chusovykina has moved her family to Germany for treatment and exercise, Chusovykina represented her native Uzbekistan at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and Germany expressed its full understanding and understanding.
In 2005, Chusovykina's son's condition suddenly worsened, and the hospital issued a critical illness notice. Chusovykina no longer cares about infamy and moral burdens at this time, as long as her son can be cured, even at the cost of her own life? The German side arranged surgery for Chusovykina's son, and the child survived the operation.
In 2006, Chusovikina, whose "three-year period" had expired, wore the German jersey and represented Germany at the World Championships in Denmark. At the World Championships in Denmark, Chusovikina performed well, winning one gold medal and two bronze medals. The news of playing for the German team caused an uproar in the country, countless insults, and some people viciously claimed that Chusovykina was just trying to immigrate to Germany under the pretext of treating her son. In the face of vicious abuse, the tired Chusovikina had no time to explain, she just wanted her child to complete the follow-up rehabilitation treatment as soon as possible.
On the left is Chusovikina, and standing in the middle is Hong Eun-jung; On the right is the bronze medalist, Cheng Fei of China
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 33-year-old Chusovykina won a silver medal in vault, which was also the first Olympic silver medal for the German gymnastics team. At that time, the gold medal in vault was North Korean teenager Hong Eun-jung, who was 14 years younger than her. In addition, she won 2 bronze gymnastics medals for Germany.
During the Beijing Olympics, Li Ning heard about Chusovykina's deeds and donated 20,000 euros to her from his own fund. During the Asian Games, Chusovykina also thanked Li Ning again for this matter.
God didn't want to let go of this desperate mother, and a few months later, at the World Championships in Switzerland, an accident caused by a motion error tore off Chusovykina's Achilles tendon. When she was carried off the stage by the paramedics, Chusovikina's desperate and painful expression made the audience's hearts ache. Although the operation has greatly improved his son's condition, the cost of follow-up rehabilitation treatment is still a lot of money.
The rupture of the Achilles tendon was carried off the field by paramedics
Such a serious accident made people feel that Chusovykina had no choice but to say goodbye to gymnastics, but in an interview, when a reporter asked Chusovikina if she planned to retire, Chusovikina uttered the famous phrase that made countless people burst into tears: "You are not healed, I dare not grow old." ”
With strong perseverance, Chusovykina recovered from her injury and once again devoted herself to tough training. In the vault event at the 2011 World Championships in Japan, Chusovykina narrowly lost to 16-year-old American Maloni and won silver.
By the time of London 2012, Chusovykina's son had largely recovered, making her sixth Olympic appearance and her last Olympic appearance for Germany. Chusovykina did not win a medal in this competition, but for her at this time, her son's recovery is undoubtedly a wealth beyond everything.
Continue the miracle of sports!
Later, Chusovykina announced her retirement and returned to her native Uzbekistan, a land where she loved despite many sad memories of her own. After retiring, Chusovykina always has a regret in her heart, she hopes that she can win an Olympic medal for her country, she said: "I was born here, I practice gymnastics here, my sports career will end here..." In 2016, Chusovykina represented the Uzbekistan team at the Rio Olympics, but unfortunately only finished eighth on the vault. At the 2021 Olympics in Japan, this is her 8th time participating in the Olympics, but unfortunately Chusovykina stopped qualifying, but after the last jump, the audience cheered for her.
Chusovikina during the Olympics in Japan
After the match, Chusovykina regretted that she had not been able to win a medal for her country, and soon announced her retirement for the third time. But after retiring from the game, Chusovykina found that she could no longer seem to adapt to life without gymnastics, and soon announced on social media that she would participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games, which excited countless netizens.
Chusovikina heroic gesture at the Hangzhou Asian Games
Although Chusovikina only finished fourth at the Hangzhou Asian Games, she can be said to be the top figure in gymnastics. After the game, Chusovykina was surrounded by countless fans, and behind people's "Qiu Mama" was not only the admiration of a sports legend, but also the emotion of a great mother. Before the Chusovikina game, the coach of the Chinese team couldn't help but help her massage and warm up, as if as long as she stood there, the people around her would be infected by the unyielding strength of her.
Chusovykina once said that before the age of 22 she fought for the country, before the age of 41 she fought for her son, and now she is fighting for herself. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, I believe that the audience can still see her resolute figure on the field!
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