November 30, 2004 - Update

Alexandra Gordeeva gave birth to a baby boy "Emil" on October 29th. Mama and son are doing well and very happy. Oksana Chusovitina's son Alisher had a blood analysis done October 22nd with a very good result. He is attending kindergarten in Cologne, Germany where Oksana is working and continuing to train. An injury has kept her out of the World Cup so far this year.

October 4, 2004 - Update

Oksana Chusovitina, appearing in her fourth Olympic games, had an unfortunate outing due to recent surgery on her leg prior to the competition. Competing only on vault, she placed 23rd. She is currently working and training in Germany and preparing for the upcoming Glasgow Grand Prix. Fans will be pleased to hear she has no immediate plans for retirement.

Her son Alisher recently began Kindergarten in Germany and his condition is still being monitored by the hospital there. He will have a new blood analysis this month and his mother is both hopeful and nervous about the results. She sends a big thank you to all that have supported her and her family through this difficult time.

August 29, 2003 - Chusovitina Wins Uzbekistan's First World Championships Gold!!!!

Oksana Chusovitina secured Uzbekistan's first Gold Medal in a Gymnastics World Championship event since the country's independence from the Soviet Union. This is also Oksana's first World Championships individual gold medal since 1991 when she won the gold medal on the Floor Exercise. Oksana placed first with two 9.9 Start Value Vaults (Double Twisting Tsukahara, Chusovitina). Tied for the Silver were Yelena Zamolodchikova of Russia and Kang Yun Mi of Korea. Oksana also qualified for the 2004 Olympics where she plans to represent Uzbekistan, placing first among individual athletes (those without a team). Alexandra Gordeeva also performed well, placing 6th among the individual athletes.

Check back after the 2004 Olympic Games for the next update!

July 31 , 2003 - Update on Oksana Chusovitina

On Monday the Uzbekistan Federation released Oksana to compete for the Germans for humanitarian reasons. However, since Oksana has not lived in Germany for 3 years, she does not yet have permission of the German government to compete for the German team. At this point, she still plans to compete for Uzbekistan in Anaheim. The Cabinet of Ministers met in a special session and decided that the most important thing was to insure that Alisher receive the best possible medical care. Oksana Chusovitina has been an outstanding athlete for Uzbekistan for many years and everyone involved wants what is best for her and her family.

July 16 , 2003 - Team UZB Update for Anaheim

Alisher Kurpanov will require 6 more months of treatment for Leukemia. Coach Svetlana Kuznetsova and Aleksandra Gordeeva will arrive in San Francisco on July 19 to train at San Mateo gymnastics for a month prior to Anaheim. Oksana hopes to join them when Alisher is better.

May 17, 2003 - Update on Alisher Kurpanov

Alisher has just completed a bloodwork test after the second round of chemotherapy. The tests were all fine, but he will have to go through one more round of chemotherapy which he should finish up at the end of June.

Oksana and Bakhodir are spending as much time as possible in Germany with Alisher, though both are traveling back and forth to work with their coaches. Oksana is really training hard for this world championships as she really would like to make a fourth Olympics.