WATCH: 49-year-old Oksana Chusovitina wins over crowd during vault routine at World Cup, bags Bronze

By Abhiruchi Rout

Modified Feb 22, 2025 18:53 GMT

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Legendary gymnast Oksana Chusovitina has returned to international competition, after experiencing a setback last year that prevented her from qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics. She made a strong comeback at the 2025 Cottbus World Cup, where she won a medal in the women’s vault event on Saturday.

However, before adding another accomplishment, Chusovitina’s vault routine captured the crowd’s attention who cheered loudly after she executed it flawlessly on her comeback.

After her 21st appearance at the Cottbus World Cup, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) shared a video of Oksana Chusovitina’s routine which received huge applause from the crowd.

Take a look at the video shared by FIG on X:

Her performance at Cottbus earned her the bronze medal, which was also her 16th vault medal at this World Cup across multiple editions. The Uzbek gymnast finished third by scoring 13.249, behind two Slovenian gymnasts Teja Belak and Tjaša Kysselef, who collected the gold and silver with 13.299 and 13.266.

Notably, the 49-year-old missed out on the Paris Olympics after sustaining an injury during podium training at the 2024 Asian Gymnastics Championships on home soil, where she needed a strong performance to earn her spot at the quadrennial games.

Throughout her eight Olympic appearances, she has won two medals which include a team gold with the Unified Team in 1992 and a vault silver for Germany in 2008.

Oksana Chusovitina on whether she plans to compete at Los Angeles Olympics 2028

Oksana Chusovitina at Tokyo Olympics (Photo: Getty Images)

Although Oksana Chusovitina couldn't qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, she hasn't yet given up on qualifying for the next Summer Games which are scheduled in Los Angeles, the USA. In a February 2025 interview with Olympics.com, she shared that her primary goal was to ensure qualification for the next edition, but she wanted to take things one at a time.

"My number one goal is to get to Los Angeles. But there is so much time before then, so I’m not thinking that far ahead. I go step-by-step, from one competition to the next because there are other activities besides gymnastics," Oksana Chusovitina said.

“If [LA 2028] happens, it happens. If not, then no. But I will try, and I will give it everything I’ve got,” she further mentioned.

Besides her gymnastics career where she has earned multiple accolades at the Olympics and World Championships, she is also giving back to the sport by opening a gymnastics school named after her in Tashkent. The school offers both athletic training and academic education to children with grades between 5 to 11.