Simone Biles may be the gymnastics star all eyes are on at the Tokyo Olympics but Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan is unquestionably the sport’s eldest stateswoman.
Chusovitina, 46, competed in her eighth and likely last Olympics on Sunday. In qualifying she did only the vault, her best event over the years, and did not make the final.
Still, she leaves a startling legacy of longevity. Watch her take one of her two attempts on Sunday:
Chusovitina scored an average of 14.166, leaving her out of the top eight, NBC reported.
Then it was time to say goodbye.
Chusovitina, who has also represented the Soviet Union (Unified Team) and Germany, won a gold medal in the team competition in 1992 and an individual silver medal for the vault in 2008.
Chusovitina got a standing ovation from the few in the arena, the network noted.
It sounds like it’s her last Summer Games.
“My son is 22 years old and I want to spend time with him,” she told USA Today earlier. “I want to be a mom and wife.”