Oksana Chusovitina , 48, loses first chance to qualify for record-equaling ninth Olympics appearance at Paris 2024

Oksana Chusovitina recently lost her first chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics 2024. She now has only one quota left at the Asian Championships in May.

If Chusovitina makes it through her final qualification chance, it will go down as her ninth Olympic Games. The Barcelona 1992 team gold medalist Chusovitina finished 23rd in vault qualification at the International Gymnastics Federation's Baku World Cup on Thursday, March 7.

The 48-year-old Uzbekistani gymnast's rank has mathematically eliminated her from making it to the Paris Olympics through one of the two quotas available to the gymnast.

At the Baku World Cup, Chusovitina scored 12.226 in her first attempt and 11.900 in her second. It totaled to an average score of 12.083, which failed to qualify her for the 2024 Olympics.

Chusovitina will take her second attempt at the Asian Gymnastics Championships, scheduled for May 24 - 26 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In order to be eligible for qualification, the gymnast must rank highest among all-around athletes.

If she participates in Paris this year, Chusovitina will equal Georgian Nino Salukvadze's record for most Olympic appearances by a woman (9).

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Oksana Chusovitina is not looking at retirement yet

Oksana Chusovitina had initially announced her retirement plans ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, after 67 days of her performance in Tokyo, Japan, the gymnast announced her return to the sport.

In June 2023, Chusovitina shared her views on breaking from her retirement on the occasion of her 48th birthday. She told Olympics.com:

“In Tokyo, yes, I said that [I would retire],” admitted Chusovitina. “But we are women, we are so fickle. Today, we say yes, tomorrow, we say no. I just realised, I felt that I can do this. Why should I leave the sport if it brings me joy?”

The gymnast, who has mentioned the Unified Team (1), Germany (2), and Uzbekistan (5) at the Olympics in the past, also mentioned:

“I really like gymnastics. I love gymnastics,” Chusovitina said. “When you do your job with joy, it brings you great joy. I don’t go to the training hall because it is necessary, I go because I like it.”

She further explained:

“While I am able to do this well, I will continue going,” she said. “I will train, I will compete. I think every person is unique, so everything is different for everyone. As long as I am able to do this, as long as I like it, I will continue doing it.”

In 2023, Oksana Chusovitina competed at the Asian Gymnastics Championships in Singapore. There, she experienced a fall in her first vault during the team and all-around finals. It caused her to miss out on an all-around berth to the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, an integral qualification stage for Paris Olympics 2024.