４８歳チュソビチナ、パリ五輪出場目指す　女子体操のレジェンド

【杭州ＡＦＰ＝時事】旧ソ連時代に国際大会デビューを果たした女子体操のオクサナ・チュソビチナ（ウズベキスタン）は、ソ連が崩壊して長い月日が経過した現在も、４８歳にして第一線で現役を続けている。（写真は第１９回アジア競技大会、体操女子種目別跳馬。演技に臨むウズベキスタンのオクサナ・チュソビチナ）
　中国・杭州で開催されている第１９回アジア競技大会に出場中のチュソビチナは、２８日の種目別跳馬決勝で、３位とわずか０．１５０点差の４位でメダルを逃した。
　来年のパリ五輪までには年齢も５０歳に近づくが、本人は自身９回目の五輪出場を目指している。
　この日の演技後には「きょうは少し足りなかったけれど大丈夫。人生は終わりじゃない」と話し、「これからも練習するし、これで五輪に出るために取り組むべき部分が明確になった」と前を向いた。
　２年前の東京五輪後には一度現役引退を表明したが、体操への情熱ですぐに思い直した。その後は５度目のアジア大会出場を最初の目標に設定した中で、大会は中国のゼロコロナ政策の影響で１年延期となっていたが、この日は会場のファンから熱狂的な歓迎を受け、待ったかいもあった。
　惜しくもメダルには手が届かなかったが、「計画していたことは全て達成できたので、とても満足している。ここから前進していく」とチュソビチナ。２９日には平均台にも出場する。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/09/29-16:54）

Gymnast Oksana Chusovitina made her international debut for the Soviet Union, and while the country may be long gone, the 48-year-old is still going strong.
The Uzbek finished agonisingly outside the medals in fourth in the women's vault final of the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Thursday and is also set to compete in the balance beam on Friday.
Chusovitina's presence is all the more striking because competitive gymnasts are typically young, often in their teens.
But the Uzbek does not care and has set her sights on appearing at next year's Paris Olympics, by which time she will be close to her half-century.
It would be a ninth Olympics for an athlete who won team gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games as part of the Unified Team that represented 12 of the former Soviet states.
I was lacking a bit today, but that's OK, life's not over, Chusovitina said after the vault final, which saw her finish just 0.150 points out of the medal positions.
I'll train and now I know exactly what to work on in order to compete at the Olympics.
Chusovitina announced her retirement after the Tokyo Olympics two years ago but her love for gymnastics soon prompted a change of heart.
She set her first target to appear at a fifth Asian Games, although the competition was postponed by a year because of China's zero-Covid policy.
It was worth the wait when she competed on Thursday, with the Chinese fans in the arena giving her a rapturous reception.
But she was unable to jump into the medal positions ahead of North Korean pair An Chang Ok and Kim Son Hyang and China's Yu Linmin -- a trio whose combined age is only 11 years older than Chusovitina's.
I have no emotions left, she said.
But I am very happy that everything I planned I achieved, so we'll move forward.
- Not looking too far ahead -
Chusovitina was born in Bukhara in Uzbekistan and took up gymnastics at the age of seven.
In 2002, her son Alisher was diagnosed with leukaemia and she and her family moved to Germany so he could receive treatment.
She obtained German citizenship in 2006 and won a silver medal for her adopted nation at the 2008 Olympics.
She returned to Uzbekistan's team in 2013 and thought she had reached the end of the road after the pandemic-postponed Tokyo Olympics.
But her change of heart has left her with even more energy than before as she tries to book her place at the Paris Games.
We move forward -- I need to try more difficult jumps, she said.
I've had bad colds this summer and now I am getting back in shape, so at every competition I want to improve my basics to qualify for the World Cup and the Olympics.
Chusovitina has claimed gold at the Asian Games before, winning both the floor exercise and vault in 2002.
She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2017 and was named Uzbekistan's best athlete of the decade in 2020.
Her son is well and studying at university, and hopes to become a maths teacher.
Chusovitina's aim may be to appear at the Paris Olympics, but that is as far as her ambition lies.
I never set goals, she said.
I just practise, compete and enjoy it.