Some thoughts of Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
BEIJING (AP) — No runner-up finish to her friend and rival this time. Nastia Liukin won the biggest prize of all. Liukin edged teammate Shawn Johnson for the all-around gold in women’s gymnastics Friday in an intense matchup that lived up to its billing at the Beijing Games. Liukin finished with 63.325 points, a mere six-tenths ahead of Johnson, the reigning world champion who beat Liukin at the U.S. championships and Olympic trials only a few weeks ago. 3
Liukin is a four-time World Champion, four-time National Champion, and first-time Olympic competitor. Although her family moved to the United States when she was two, Nastia has strong Eastern European talent running through her veins: both her parents, Valeri and Anna Kotchneva Liukin, were former Soviet gymnasts who became gymnastic coaches. At 18 years old, Liukin has already spent three years at the senior elite level, competing as a junior elite from the age of 12. Liukin?s detailed biography on her official Web site sheds more light on her evolution from Texas star to new Olympian. 2
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As a biography, Nastia Liukin, (birth name Anastasia Valeryevna Liukina), was born on October 30, 1989 in Moscow, Russia. Her parents are gymnasts as well, father Valeri Liukin, is a 1988 Olympic gold medalist and mother, Anna Kotchneva, was the 1987 World Champion in rhythmic gymnastics. The Liukin family moved to the United States when Nastia was 2 1/2 years old. 6
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The name Liukin conjures images of past gymnastics glories. Valeri was a member of the 1988 Soviet men’s team that won gold in the Seoul Olympics and was perhaps the most dominant men’s squad ever assembled. Consider that in the all-around competition, Soviet men won all three medals, including Valeri’s silver. His wife, Anna, was a rhythmic gymnast on equally preeminent Soviet teams from the same golden era. She was the world champion in clubs in 1987. 1
The International Herald Tribune covered Liukin’s progress in the run-up to the Olympic trials, noting that her parents’ prowess in gymnastics (her father won four medals at the 1988 Games) and rhythmic gymnastics (her mother Anna was world champion in 1987) has certainly helped shape Nastia for stardom. The Tribune observes that Liukin “has the long lines and daring skills that could make her a television star” at the Beijing Games. 5
born October 30, 1989) is a Russian-American artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic individual all-around gold medalist, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World Champion on the uneven bars. With nine World Championships medals, seven of them individual, Liukin is tied with Shannon Miller as having won the most World Championship medals of any American gymnast in history. 7
Nastia Liukin must have been genetically destined to be a gymnast. Her father Valeri won four Olympic medals (two gold and two silver) for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Games in Calgary, Canada. Her mother Anna was a Soviet rhythmic gymnastics world champion in 1987. 4
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