Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina

Born on 19^th June 1975 in Uzbekistan, Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina is an artistic gymnastics who has represented the Soviet Union, CIS, Unified Team, Germany and Uzbekistan in the gymnastics competitions. She is the only female gymnast ever to participate in seven Summer Olympics and one of the only two female gymnasts to represent three different national teams at the Olympics. Oksana holds the record for winning most individual World Championships medals in a single event as she has won nine medals in the vault event.

Oksana took up gymnastics at the age of seven, and at 13, she won the USSR Junior National Championships and graduated to the senior ranks the following year.

From 1993 onwards, Oksana began representing Uzbekistan in competitions, but in 2003, Uzbekistan released her, and she began representing Germany. She obtained German citizenship in 2006. After the 2012 Olympics, Oksana declared that she would take retirement and begin coaching, but she switched back to representing Uzbekistan as a gymnast after some time. By competing at the 2016 Olympic Games, she became the oldest gymnast ever to participate in the Olympics at the age of 41 and 2 months.

Here are some of the major career achievements of this unstoppable legend:

Representing the Soviet Union -

• She bagged two gold medals and a silver medal at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in 1991 in team, floor exercise and vault events, respectively.
• Bagged gold medals in team and vault events at the 1990 Goodwill Games

Representing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) -

• Oksana won a bronze medal at the 1992 World Championships in vault event.

Representing the Unified Team -

• She won the gold medal in team event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Representing Uzbekistan -  

• Earned a gold medal in the vault event at the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games
• Oksana bagged a gold medal in 2003, silver medals in 2001 and 2005 and bronze medals in 1993 and 2002 World Championships in the vault event.

• Earned a gold and a bronze medal at the 2002 Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Final in vault and balance beam events, respectively
• Won a silver medal at the 2001 Goodwill Games in Vault event
• Won three silver medals and a bronze medal at the 1996 Asian Gymnastics Championships in vault, uneven bars, floor exercise and all-around events, respectively

Representing Germany -

• Won a gold medal in 2008, silver medals in 2011 and 2012 and a bronze medal in 2007 in vault events at the European Women’s Gymnastics Championships
• Bagged a silver medal in 2011 and a bronze medal in 2006 in vault event at the World Championships
• Oksana won a silver medal in vault event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.