Who is Oksana Chusovitina? The Uzbek star gymnast retires from the sport at age 46

Chusovitina is the oldest gymnast to ever qualify for the Olympics, and won her first gold medal as part of the Unified Team at the 1992 Olympic Games

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  Oksana Chusovitina from Uzbekistan competes for the women's event of the Artistic Gymnastics during the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona on August 1, 1992.

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  Oksana Chusovitina from Uzbekistan during the Women's individual apparatus competition at the Goodwill Games in St Petersburg, August 1,1994.

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  Oksana Chusovitina from Uzbekistan performs on the floor during the women's individual all round finals in Busan for the 14th Asian Games, October 3, 2002.

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  Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina, China's Liu Wei, left, and compatriot Huang Jing celebrate after receiving their medals for the vault event in the women's apparatus finals for the 14th Asian Games in Busan, October 4, 2002. Chusovitina won gold with a total point of 9.450 ahead of Liu with silver and Huang for bronze.

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  Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan performs on the vault during the 13the French international gymnastics tournament, March 14, 2004 in the Gerland arena in Lyon. Chusovitina won the vault event.

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  Oksana Chusovitina of Germany performs on the uneven bars in the women's qualifiers at the Arena in Aarhus, October 16, 2006 at the 39th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Denmark.

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  Oksana Chusovitina of Germany competes on the floor in the women's individual all-around final title at the Arena in Aarhus, October 19, 2006 at the 39th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Denmark.

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  Oksana Chusovitina of Germany performs on the floor during the women's individual final at the Doha Gymnastics World Cup at the Aspire Academy March 6, 2008.

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  Oksana Chusovitina of Germany practises on the balance beam during an artistic gymnastics training session at the National Indoor Stadium ahead of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 7, 2008.

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  Germany's Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina looks on during the women's qualification of the artistic gymnastics event of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on August 10, 2008.

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  Germany's Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina stands on the podium during the medal ceremony of the women's vault final of the artistic gymnastics event of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on August 17, 2008. North Korea's Un Jong Hong won the gold, Germany's Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina the silver and China's Fei Cheng the bronze.

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  Germany's Oksana Chusovitina performs on the beam during the women's artistic Gymnastics World Championships at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam October 17, 2010.

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  Germany's Oksana Chusovitina performs on the beam during the women's qualification of the artistic gymnastics event of the London Olympic Games on July 29, 2012 at the O2 North Greenwich Arena in London.

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  Oksana Chusovitina of Germany competes in the women's gymnastics vault final in the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 5, 2012.

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  Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina competes during the artistic gymnastics test event Women's Vault final for the Rio 2016 Olympic games at the Rio Olympic Arena of the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 18, 2016.

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  Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan in action during 2018 Asian Games, August 23, 2018.

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  Roxana Popa of Team Spain, Giulia Steingruber of Team Switzerland, Oksana Chusovitina of Team Uzbekistan, Luciana Alvarado of Team Costa Rica, Lihie Raz of Team Israel, and Farah Ann Abdul Hadi of Team Malaysia pose for a photo during women's qualification on day two of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 25, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

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  Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan in action on the vault at Tokyo 2020 Olympics, July 25, 2021.

Casual gymnastics fans may not know the name Oksana Chusovitina, but the eight-time Olympian has been a consistent figure in the sport for more than three decades.

On Sunday, Chusovitina, 46, competed in the qualifying round for the vault event at Tokyo, falling short of making it to the event final with an average score of 14.166. And with that, she also bid goodbye to a legendary career that even she couldn’t have known would stretch so long.

Oksana Chusovitina reacts after competing in the vault qualification during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on July 25, 2021. AFP

In a sport that takes such a physical toll on the body and where gymnasts over the age of 20 are considered past their prime, her longevity and endurance is remarkable.

Born in Uzbekistan in 1976, Chusovitina began training in gymnastics in 1982 and was a junior all-around championship at the USSR National Championships.

Chuso, as she’s affectionately called in the gymnastics community, won her first Olympic medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She represented the Unified Team (as part of the former Soviet Union), where she won the team gold medal.

After the dissolution of the USSR, she represented Uzbekistan in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics.

She moved to Germany in 2002 to get a rare treatment for her son Alisher, after he was diagnosed with leukaemia. She later gained German citizenship in 2006, and first represented the country at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, winning a bronze medal on the vault.

She would follow that up by taking the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in the same event and represented Germany once more at the 2012 London Olympics.

By 2013, Chusovitina was back to competing for her home country again. She qualified again for the 2016 Rio Olympics, making her the oldest gymnast to ever compete, later breaking her own record with an appearance in Tokyo.

After finishing her final vault, despite the spectator-less crowd in the arena, she received a standing ovation from her fellow gymnasts. Before she left the floor, she posed for photos with other gymnasts, many younger than her son, aged 22.

“It was really nice,” she said. “I cried tears of happiness because so many people have supported me for a long time.”

Though Chusovitina has said before that she was done competing and ready to retire, only to show up at the next world championships or Olympics, she says that won’t happen now.

“I’m 46 years old,” she said. “Nothing is going to change my mind.”