'On the competition floor, we're all equal': At 48, this gymnast eyes ninth Olympics in epic career

SINGAPORE: In a small room in the depths of the OCBC Arena on Sunday (Jun 18), legendary gymnast Oksana Chusovitina held court for about 15 minutes.

There were wry grins as she answered questions in Russian, some quizzical shakes of the head. When someone joked that she was turning 21, not 48, on Monday, she quipped: "18!" 

Decades after Chusovitina made her competitive debut, she continues to defy time. 

She has competed in every edition of the Olympic Games since 1992. She has represented the Soviet Union, Germany and Uzbekistan, and won at the highest level.

Throughout the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Singapore, there were enthusiastic requests for selfies, shy hugs from other gymnasts, and on Sunday, a bouquet of flowers presented to her ahead of her birthday.

Even after her competition ended – Chusovitina won a silver in the vault event – she explains that she cannot stay for long, there are events underway and she wants to be in the stands.

“I can't speak for all athletes ... but I really like gymnastics. I love gymnastics. And when you do your job with joy, it brings you great joy. So I don’t go to the training hall because it is necessary. I go because I like it," said the diminutive Uzbek.

"As long as I am able to do this, as long as I like it, I will continue doing it.”

Chusovitina's Olympic journey began in Barcelona, just over three decades ago. 

A year after winning gold medals in the team and floor exercise events at the World Championships, she clinched a team gold on her Games debut competing for the Unified team, which consisted of a number of former Soviet republics who chose to compete together following the break up of the Soviet Union.

After Barcelona, Chusovitina began competing for her home