Uzvek gymnast Chusovitina to retire after Rio Olympics

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 5 (IANS) Oksana Chusovitina from Uzbekistan has decided to retire after her seventh Olympic Games here at Rio and the 41 years old gymnast hoped that she can reach the vault final this time.

"I think I won't do any competitions after the Olympics. When I retire from gymnastics, it has to be on a Monday, because that is the hardest day of training."

Chusovitina became the first female gymnast to take part in six Olympic Games when she competed in London four years ago, and she rewrote her own record by coming to Rio as Uzbekistan's only female gymnast, reports Xinhua.

"I just love this sport. I still like to train and compete," said Chusovitina after Thursday's podium training at the Rio Olympic Arena.

"My biggest goal in this competition is to make it to the vault final," said the vault specialist, who took the silver of the event at the 2008 Olympic Games.