Oksana Chusovitina: An extraordinary Women!

... a long and difficult year!

A battle not only for sportive glory...
Never before during the last 30 years of modern women’s artistic gymnastics there has been a 28-year old World Champion.
In Anaheim this has been realized by the unresting Oksana Chusovitina from Uzbekistan who now lives in Cologne/ Germany.< br> We met this extraordinary athlete in Berlin where she has been the star of the gala GYMMOTION.
She seems to be a bit tired now after so many competitions and galas, she doesn’t even remember her total amount of competitions this year - “...after Anaheim it must have been about eight...“

Oksana: It's Show time, now!

It also has to be remembered that the battle for sportive glory is not her most important one, for several years now she battles for the health of her son Alisher who suffers from leukaemia...

... a long and difficult year!
the head of GYMmedia Eckhard Herholz met Oksana Chusovitina at the GYMMOTION GALA in Berlin
It has been a long and hearty hug after a long and tiring day in the venue “Max-Schmeling-Halle“. This warm welcome has also been the “Thank You“ of the friendly gymnast for the help through the World-wide donations which have been organized by the GYMmedia portal: Almost EUR 27,000 were transferred on the account for donations to support the treatment of her four-year old son Alisher . The amount includes large amounts from her US- fan club and the organizers of the SWISS CUP and of many, many other friends of the large gym-family. Herewith this “Thank You“ is being passed on.

"Yes, I am quite tired", said Oksana with a smile on her face, “but I know why I do all this!“ She missed almost no large competition during this pre-Olympic year. In addition to the sportive challenge also the battle for price money, awards and the market value of a super star has become important in her life. The total amount which is necessary to cover the costs for the treatment of her son Alisher in Cologne has not yet been collected completely.
In Uzbekistan the opportunities for the treatment of her child certainly wouldn’t have been that good and so Oksana also is very grateful for the help of her friends of the gymnastics club TOYOTA Cologne with Prof. Peter Brüggemann and Shanna Poljakova who have supported her and gave her the feeling of security also when she has been on competition tour throughout the World.

Coach Svetlana Kusnezova (middle), Zamolodchikova and Chusovitina (ri.)

Confusions could not be avoided on different sides. Her friend and coach Svetlana Kusnetzowa still has not totally coped with the separation. “However, she slowly starts to understand,“ said Oksana, “that my heart was hurting when I was in Tashkent and my son in Cologne. I have been thinking the whole time if he was well and couldn’t cope with that. So I had to look for a solution and it has been my very own decision to move to Cologne completely. I am very much hoping that Svetlana will understand this – my heart wants her to understand it!“

Good Luck, Alisher! - and 'Happy Christmas in Germany!'

Soon an important part of the treatment of Alisher will be completed succesfully. The chances for a complete recovery are very good but the final certainty can only be expected to be there in about 1 ½ years.
For the first time in his life he saw his mother compete at the DTB-Cup in Stuttgart and he will also come to the last gala of the tour of the German Gymnastics Federation on December 13th in Essen (Germany).

Golden Jump in Anaheim

Sportively seen Oksana Chusovitina will continue to reach for the stars.
Incredible 13 years ago she competed in her first competition abroad at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle where she won on vault, then became World Champion on floor 1991 in Indianapolis, 1992 followed an Olympic gold medal ...and in August 2003 in Anaheim she again won the World Championship title on vault. In 2004 in Athens she once again wants to reach for Olympic medals. “I am working on a more difficult second vault. It works quite well already now.“

She speaks of a double-twisting Tsukahara which has a SV of 9.9. That would upgrade her program on vault to two start values of 9.9 and would give her very good chances to win an Olympic medal, provided she stays fit and healthy with her then 29 (!) years!

Her German gets better every day and everything looks like that she and her family will spend their future in Cologne.
"Detski Moros", Santa Claus for little Alisher will come to Cologne this year.
Eckhard Herholz / gymmedia; translated by Lisa Worthmann

Action "Gymnastics for Alisher"
You want to help....? No problem:
To support the leukaemia treatment for Alisher donations by the GYMfamily are still very welcome.
All information at: www.gymmedia.com/HELP

* In 2008, after getting the German citizenship
Oksana Chusovitina realized her fifth Olympic participation in Beijing as the first femal gymnast of the world!!

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