Oksana Chusovitina had one of the shortest retirements in artistic gymnastics. She officially announced her retirement in Tokyo, her 7th Olympics, 32 years since she started competing internationally, and said in several interviews that she did not miss the gym and had no plans to continue training. However, this week, she said on her Instagram that she is resuming training and hopes to compete at the 2022 Asian Games:
“I want to tell everyone that I decided to train for the 2022 Asian Games. I just can’t finish my career without a medal for Uzbekistan.”
Chusovitina is a multiple Asian Games medalist, she won two golds, four silvers, and two bronze medals representing Uzbekistan. Her latest Asian Games medal was a vault silver in 2018. So, it’s not clear why an Asian Games medal would be especially important but, perhaps, she just wants to finish on a high note, winning a medal at a major competition. So far, Chusovitina hasn’t made any additional comments on her comeback and has not mentioned whether she plans to keep training beyond the Asian Games.
The 2022 Asian Games will take place in September in Hangzhou, China. The 2022 World Championships in Liverpool are only a month later, so, perhaps, Chusovitina will decide to keep going for a little longer.
