Run, springboard, take off, spin, perfect landing, bow gesture.
The character of this issue - Oksana Chusovkina. She's a grandma-level athlete who has spent a quarter of a century competing or on her way to compete. Turning over her resume is like reading a sports history, but compared to her legendary sports career, what makes the world more admirable is what she has done for her son!
Chusovkina is a world-renowned gymnast and vaulter born in 1975 in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. He has never missed the Olympic Games since 1992 and has participated in seven Olympic Games so far, setting a world record for the most consecutive Olympic games.
At the age of 7, Chusovkina was sent by her family to gymnastics school for training. Thanks to her excellent leg skills and coordination, Chusovkina has shown talent in various projects. At the age of 13, Chusovykina won the all-around championship at the Soviet Union Junior Championships, then entered the national team and won her first world championship at the 1991 Indiana World Championships, followed by the women's team gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics.
After participating in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, he announced his retirement and became famous. The following year he married wrestler Bakdal Kepanov. The birth of the eldest son, Arish, in 1999 added new life to the family.
When she was passing by the training gym on one of her outings, she saw familiar training facilities and teammates who used to spend the day and night together, which evoked memories of the arena. She looked at herself in the mirror and felt that not getting old could bring honor to the motherland. But gymnastics is a very youthful industry, and 20 years old is an older athlete. After much thought, she decided to make a comeback, winning a silver medal in vaulting at the age of 25 at the 2001 World Gymnastics Championships in Ghent. The trajectory of life seems to be developing in a good direction, and the career and family have a double harvest. In 2002, Chusovykina won a bronze medal in vaulting at the World Gymnastics Championships in Debrecen and won four medals at the Busan Asian Games in the same year. While she was still immersed in the joy of victory, fate played a big joke on her.
When she was anxious to tell her mother the good news, news came from the other end of the phone that her eldest son, Arish, was suffering from leukemia. The Chusovykina had to fly back to Tashkent immediately to seek medical treatment for their son.
Because of the high cost of treating leukemia, the Chusovkina family, which is not well off, is difficult to pay. So Chusovkina chose to continue to compete, because "one world championship gold medal equals 3,000 euros in prize money, which is my only way." Chusovkina said. Previously, the training competition was for the honor of the country, and this time Chusovkina's reason for participating in the competition became to earn money. Chusovkina never shied away from this because she was a mother. She was willing to give everything for her son. For the sake of her son, Chusovkina began training like crazy. In addition to his own good vault and balance beam, he is developing towards the all-round type and making more money in order to report more projects. And her husband also gave up the sport of wrestling he loved to take care of his son at home.
In order to seek better medical conditions for her son, Chusovkina took her son to Cologne, Germany in 2003. When she learned that the cost of treating her son would cost 120,000 euros, she was completely out of the way, but as a mother, she had to be strong and overcome all difficulties. Chusovkina and her husband sold all their possessions but these were far from expensive for the cost of treatment. At this time, she decided to participate in all the future competitions, even if she was injured, she had to grit her teeth and insist on it in order to make her son get better quickly. Germany also gave great respect to this famous athlete who had already shaken the world of sports, and arranged Arish to receive treatment at the Medical School of the University of Cologne. Chusovkina can not only train for the German national team but also continue to play for Uzbekistan.
Arish's condition was turned around by the advanced medical level in Germany, and thanks to the advanced training conditions, Chusovkina maintained a good competitive state. Thanksgiving, Chusovkina joined Germany in 2006 on the condition that the naturalization policy was met. In the following three years, Richu Sovikina participated in one World Championship and won two European championships for Germany, which was the second time that the German women's team won the European championship medal after a gap of 23 years.
In 2008, at the age of 33, Chusovkina competed in the Beijing Olympics. She was in amazing shape on the field, winning a silver medal in vaulting at a record age! The gold medal-winning North Korean athlete Hong Eun-jeong is 14 years younger than her, and the bronze-winning Chinese athlete Cheng Fei is 13 years younger than her. Compared with the gratifying results, she is even happier that her eldest son's condition has been very stable.
ChusovyKina, Hong Enzhen, Cheng Fei
But the mother did not relax, because no one knew what fate would bring. She still trains hard and actively prepares for all competitions. But the years finally gave a hard hand to this strong mother. In the Swiss International Gymnastics Competition shortly after the Beijing Olympics, an unstable groundflip caused a rupture of the Achilles tendon. This injury undoubtedly sentenced the athlete to death for his career. Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei retired as a result. Those desperate eyes touched the hearts of everyone present, and people were thinking that this time, it was time for this hard-working mother to stop and take a break.
As she lay in bed, turning on the television and broadcasting reports of the Paralympic Games, their stories gave Chusovkina a great encouragement. As she said in The Orator, "Everyone has their own story behind their backs, and everyone has fought in despair and finally overcomes themselves." In 2011 Chusovkina appeared at the European Gymnastics Championships in Berlin. The difference in age between the players competing with her is getting older. Beside the young face, Chusovkina looked out of place. The female is weak, but the mother is strong. Mother's love and faith allowed this thin woman to overcome injuries and overcome years! She won a silver medal in vaulting at the subsequent World Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo and a ticket to the London Olympics.
Chusovkina continues to write the legend, and the London Olympics is her sixth Olympic journey. The 37-year-old German veteran ended up in fifth place. Although she missed the medal, she received the warmest applause on the scene. In 2013, Chusovkina returned to Uzbekistan and wanted to fight for her country again, winning the all-around championship at the 26th Trnava Gymnastics Competition. In 2014, Chusovkina, who returned from Germany, competed as an Asian gymnast at the Incheon Asian Games and won a silver medal in vaulting. When she finished her final jump, the people on the scene stood up to pay tribute to this great athlete!
On August 7, 2016, at the women's gymnastics qualification tournament at the Rio Olympic Games, we once again saw a familiar figure. 41 years old, seven Olympic Games. The gymnastics world, known as a "veteran" at the age of 20, is a unique myth. "Grandma contestant" Chusovykina is on the scene again. Yes, she's still here, and still powerful! Without the 41-year-old ChusovyKina coming out to "stir up trouble", the women's vaulting final of the 2016 Rio Olympics will also be the world of American Biles and North Korean star Hong Eun-jeong. In the previously concluded Gymnastics World Cup Mersin, Chusovkina successfully completed the most difficult action for women's vaulting - the forehand flip group backflip for two and a half weeks, with a difficulty value of 7.0. Coupled with her previous proficiency in the difficulty value of 6.0 Tsukahara 720 °, Chusovkina has become a strong contender for the women's vault medal and even the gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
In 2018, ChusovyKina won the silver medal in vaulting at the Jakarta Asian Games, and the winner of the South Korean youngster Lu Ruizheng (also known as Lu Ruixing) was a full 27 years younger than her.
ChusovyKina, Lu Ruizheng, Ping Yarong
What concerned her even more was that the eldest son, Arish, had recovered from his illness, and the "stone" she had lifted above her head could finally be put down. She can finally devote herself to the cause she loves.
The 45-year-old Chusovykina is still in good shape and is actively preparing for her eighth Olympic trip, the Tokyo Olympics
Let us bless this legendary athlete, this strong and great mother!
appendix
1. The material comes from Baidu Encyclopedia, Chusovkina's interview and speech.
2. Chusovykina won more than seventy medals in her gymnastics career. In the International Gymnastics Federation, there are three movements named after her (two high and low bars, 1 free gymnastics)
3. Cheng Fei, a famous Chinese gymnast. He has represented the country in 11 competitions and won a total of 24 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 5 bronze medals. In June 2012, Cheng Fei broke his Achilles tendon during a free exercise exercise, and the 25-year-old Cheng Fei announced his retirement.
4. CIS: The Commonwealth of Independent States , composed of most of the republics of the former Soviet Union , for multilateral cooperation.