Gymnastics-Chusovitina shows youngsters how it's done

  2008-08-19 00:34:21 GMT    2008-08-19 08:34:21 (Beijing Time)    Sina.com

  So what if it took Oksana Chusovitina 16 years and five Olympics to finally get her hands on an individual gymnastics medal -- she is not done yet.

  Chusovitina proved on Sunday that gymnastics was not only the domain of teenage prodigies when aged 33, she became the oldest woman in more than half a century to win a Games gymnastics medal.

  After picking up a silver behind surprise North Korean vault champion Hong Un-jong, Chusovitina said she intended to defy the age barrier and compete at the London 2012 Games.

  "By then I will be 37 ... I still love gymnastics and I still have fun every day," said Chusovitina, who struck gold on the vault at the European championships in April.

  "If I have the chance, I can do a sixth Olympics," added the Uzbek-born gymnast who now represents Germany.

  "I don't feel 33, I feel 18!"

  In a sport where athletes are considered to have peaked by their late teens and are drawing pensions from their sporting federations by the time they reach 20, Chusovitina has continued to buck the trend and gets better and better with age.

  North Korea's Hong was just three when Chusovitina won her first major accolade, a team gold with the unified Soviet squad at the 1992 Olympics.

  Since then, she has chalked up the airmiles travelling to Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, each time drawing a blank even though she was one of the front runners for the vault crown.

  Initially she was forced to prolong her career to raise funds for her son Alisher, who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukaemia at the age of three in 2002 and his illness prompted the move to Germany.

  Although Alisher is now in the clear, it came as little surprise when she credited him for her success.

  "This medal is for my son, I could not have done this without him," said Chusovitina, who condemned Chinese favourite Cheng Fei to the bronze. (Editing by Keith Weir)