The Olympics never pay off their debts or make curtsies even to those who are most devoted to them. Otherwise, Oksana Chusovitina, of course, had to end her career, if not with a medal, then at least among the finalists. In the only form in which the gymnast performed in Tokyo - the vault, she won the awards of the world championships nine times. The last major victory on this apparatus was won at the Asian Games just three years ago. Therefore, in fact, I wanted the Olympic destiny to present this little woman with a farewell gift. So that at least at her final career Games, the athlete fully felt that the gymnastic world revolves around her.
At her first Olympics, in Barcelona, Chusovitina, despite the gold medal won in the team championship, did not get much attention. In the great Soviet team, she was, rather, a laborer, a butcher. A small and not too noticeable golden cog of the then invincible team. Any team sport in this regard is cruel: someone carries a piano, and someone plays on it. Tatiana Gutsu, Tatiana Lysenko, Svetlana Boginskaya performed solo in Barcelona. Oksana, on the other hand, just did her job, knowing that her place was in the shadow of the greats and she had no right to make a mistake.
At those Games, our country, or rather its numerous "wrecks", first performed under the white Olympic flag. It would seem, what does all this matter to a little girl who is barely 17? But exactly there, in Barcelona, where we actually met, Chusovitina, clutching the gold team medal in her hands, suddenly said in a very adult way: “We seem to be gone. They even clap, as if out of decency ... ".
In Beijing, where Chusovitina won an individual silver medal, she represented the German national team.
And, to call a spade a spade, she was also deprived of the pleasure of climbing a pedestal under the flag of her own country.
Already, by the way, the fourth in a row, which from the point of view of statistics can also be considered a unique precedent: the gymnast won her debut victory in the world championship under the flag of the USSR, after Barcelona and the CIS national team she won five medals of the world championships, representing Uzbekistan, took German sports citizenship, Well, after the “German” period of her life came to an end, she again returned to her native colors, dreaming of winning an award for the country where she grew up.
It didn't work out at the Rio Games.
And the cherished goal was postponed for another four years.
More precisely, a pandemic added five - an extra year.
Chusovitina, of course, dreamed of leaving the sport in a completely different way.
In the summer, when I found her with a phone call at a training camp in Germany, Oksana told me that she was seriously preparing a vault.
“Its difficulty is no different from the difficulty of the jumps of those girls who played in the final of the World Championships in Stuttgart and are performing now, so I think that it is quite possible to fight for a medal.
It is very difficult to go forward without a goal.
Although I never needed any additional motivation ... ”- said Chusovitina.
When a person has a cherished dream, he really does not need to motivate himself to achieve it.
But the dream is too fragile.
In the case of Chusovitina, she shattered into small pieces two days before the decisive performance.
When, without explanation, she was removed from the role of standard bearer at the opening parade.
You say nonsense?
I disagree.
Athletes, whose careers began during the Soviet era, perceive many things in a completely different way than is customary now.
I would venture to suggest that walking through the stadium with the flag meant a lot more for the 46-year-old gymnast than it now seems to those who deprived her of this flag.
It is no coincidence that after the ceremony, the athlete, struggling to keep her face and smile, dropped the phrase: "Motivation was killed ...".
Well, then there were those two jumps with a loss of balance on landing, and the words spoken into the camera even before the score was displayed:
"I love everyone.
Farewell!".