RIO DE JANEIRO – Gymnasts have among the shortest career spans of any athletes and few make it to more than two or, at the very most, three Olympic Games. But the irrepressible Oksana Chusovitina is taking part at her seventh.
In a sport overpopulated by tiny teenagers, 41-year-old Chusovitina has kept her body “lean and mean” for over four decades so that she can compete against rivals younger than her 17-year-old son Alisher.
“When I compete, if they gave a few more marks for age it would have been great!” Chusovitina quipped after she competed in women’s qualifying yesterday.
There was certainly a lot of love in the Rio Olympic Arena for the oldest ever gymnast to compete at a Games and who was a member of the triumphant Unified Team, representing former Soviet republics, on her Olympic debut in 1992. (Reuters)
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