Oksana Chusovitina seems quite set on her decision to retire after the Tokyo Olympics which will be her 8th Olympic Games. She announced at a recent press-conference that she will focus on her work promoting and developing gymnastics in Uzbekistan. One of the ways to promote gymnastics will be her show “My Way” which she plans on holding in November of 2020. Chusovitina said that other athletes from different countries will take part in the show as well. However, meanwhile, she is preparing for the Olympics and plans on attending several competitions before Tokyo:
“I keep competing, participating at sports events. World Cups are in my schedule before the Olympics. A lot of projects in which I will personally participate are planned. It’s just that the Tokyo Olympics will be my final one, I am retiring from the elite sport, but I’ll still work in sports. I really want to make my contribution into the development of children’s sports. It’s one of my big goals. I plan on opening my own gymnastics school. I also really want to encourage the young generation to do sports and live a healthy life. I want to specially not that doing sports since early childhood will always affect the child’s development positively.
While Chusovitina qualified to the Olympics via all-around and still regularly trains additional events, she plans on competing only on vault in Tokyo:
“I’ll compete only on the event that is my best, on vault.”
Chusovitina certainly won in genetic and talent lotteries but she believes hard work is much more important than talent to succeed at sports. When she was asked to name young gymnasts that might have a big future, she replied:
“It’s hard to name everyone, there are many, they all work hard. Hard work is the most important, not talent. Time and hard work will show what they are capable of. A hard-working athlete will be able to achieve anything because of the hard work. But talent can run out with time. That’s why I appreciate workaholics more. That’s my opinion.”
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