Oksana Chusovitina has won nine World medals on vault, with her first in 1991 when she still represented USSR and her last one exactly 20 years later in 2011 when she represented Germany. Now she hopes to win another one in 2019 after just missing out and finishing fourth in the vault final this year.
She upgraded for the final but had some issues on the landings. She did not have a lot of time to practice her more difficult vault since she was sick, she told R-Sport:
“You know, there is always a disappointment if you don’t do everything exactly as you wanted to. Of course, I know that I need to get a higher score on my first vault. I barely trained it [recently] but nobody cares about that or the fact that what happened to me before the World Championships. I was very sick and just didn’t have enough time to prepare what I wanted. But you know, I’m really happy that I made the final. I saw that I could compete with all the girls with no problems at all. The same competitors will be at the next Worlds where I will need to qualify to the Olympics. I know and I am sure that I have a goal now. I am sure that I’ll win a medal in Stuttgart”.
Chusovitina reiterated, that her love for gymnastics is what’s keeping her in the sport:
“Nothing pushes me [to compete], I just love it and enjoy it. It’s my 17th World Championships. But I don’t pay attention to this fact. And I don’t understand why others focus on it. Of course, perhaps, it’s some sort of a sensation, but I don’t think it is. If I like it and can do it, and people cheer for me and support me, it helps me and makes me happy”.
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