She keeps going, and going, and going, and…

It was a touching story of a mother’s love for her son and how she leveraged her sport to pay for treating his leukemia.

Then came the bang worthy of a surprise symphony:

“My goal is to keep going until London in 2012,” 32-year-old Oksana Chusovitina told Reuters in an interview last week.

Whoa. Chusovitina was tapped to lead the German women’s Olympic team, which will include Katya Abel and Marie-Sophie Hindermann, fourth on uneven bars at the 2007 World Championships. University of Utah sophomore and Olympic hopeful Daria Bijak kept herself in the running for a berth by finishing fourth at the recent German Nationals.

I suppose people were thinking Chusovitina might retire after Beijing. I’m beginning to assume she’ll be competing elite at 50.

German star Fabian Hambuchen will lead the men’s team, which will also consist of 2008 German Championships silver medalist Philipp Boy, Marcel Nguyen and Eugen Spiridonov.

Tags: Daria Bijak, Eugen Spiridonov, Fabian Hambuchen, Katya Abel, Marcel Nguyen, Marie-Sophie Hindermann, Oksana Chusovitina, Philipp Boy