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The first time I clearly remember watching the Olympic Games was in 2008. Coincidentally, I was visiting family in China then and the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Shanghai. I quickly realized that my favorite sport to watch is gymnastics and my favorite gymnast is Nastia Liukin. Born on October 30, 1990, Nastia Liukin is the 2008 Olympic individual all-around Champion, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 Worl Champion on the uneven bars. Liukin was born in Moscow, Russia and she is the child of two former Soviet champion gymnasts, Valeri Liukin and Anna Kotchneva. Appropriately, her father, the 1987 World Clubs Champion in rhythmic gymnastics, is her coach and trainer. Her and her family move to the United States when she was only two and a half years old after the breakup of the Soviet Union and settled in Texas. She is fluent in English and Russian and graduated from Spring Creek Academy in Plano, Texas. She enrolled at Southern Methodist University in January 2008 as a freshman international business major. But in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, she chose to take leave from her classes. She returned to campus in Spring 2009, but her training and professional schedule forced her to withdrawal before the end of the semester. However, Liukin has expressed interest to continue her studies at New York University in the future.
For her statistics, she is 5’2” tall, 99 lbs in weight, and 23 years old. Liukin has won five medals in her career, one gold, three silvers, and one bronze. After her success at the 2008 Olympics, Liukin decided she was not finished with gymnastics. After several months of training, conditioning, and reworking routines, Liukin petitioned for a spot at the Visa National Championships. In order for her to succeed, she had to show readiness by scoring at least a 14.0 on one apparatus at a qualifying even on May 26th, 2012. In fact, she scored a 14.9 on balance beam and therefore her petition was granted. On beam at the Visa Championships, Liukin scored a 15.1 on the first night with a 14.1 on the second night winning 6th place at the event. However, on bars, she scored a disappointing 13.650 on the first night and 13.650 on the second night to place 20th total. Nevertheless, she was still chosen to compete at the Olympic Trials.. Her career came to an end after the 2012 Olympic Trials. On the final night of the competition, she fell of the bars on her Gienger relase, but her father and coach helped her back up to finish her routine. It was the time she landed her competitive dismount since her comeback. She received a standing ovation from the 18,000 fans in the HP Pavilion at San Jose, California. Despite the end of her gymnastics career, Liukin went to London as the athletic representative for the Federatino of Internation Gymnasts.
Her discipline is formally referred to as Women’s artistic gymnastics and she is in the Senior International Elite level. She practiced at the World. Olympic Gymnastics Academy. Liukin began gymnastics at the age of three because she was always with her parents at the gym since they could not afford a babysitter. They did not initially aspire for their daughter to become a gymnast since they understand the high-pressure and stress associated with the sport but encouraged her after realizing her potential and love for it. By 2003, Liukin was on the of the strongest junior gymnasts in the United States. She has won the junior division of the U.S. National Championships, as well as gold medals on three of the four events. She repeated these in 2004 and was a member of the gold-winning U.S. team a the 2003 Pan Am Games.
Works Cited
"Nastia Liukin." Profile, Bio, Results, Medals and Photos. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013.
"Nastia Liukin." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 May 20.
For her statistics, she is 5’2” tall, 99 lbs in weight, and 23 years old. Liukin has won five medals in her career, one gold, three silvers, and one bronze. After her success at the 2008 Olympics, Liukin decided she was not finished with gymnastics. After several months of training, conditioning, and reworking routines, Liukin petitioned for a spot at the Visa National Championships. In order for her to succeed, she had to show readiness by scoring at least a 14.0 on one apparatus at a qualifying even on May 26th, 2012. In fact, she scored a 14.9 on balance beam and therefore her petition was granted. On beam at the Visa Championships, Liukin scored a 15.1 on the first night with a 14.1 on the second night winning 6th place at the event. However, on bars, she scored a disappointing 13.650 on the first night and 13.650 on the second night to place 20th total. Nevertheless, she was still chosen to compete at the Olympic Trials.. Her career came to an end after the 2012 Olympic Trials. On the final night of the competition, she fell of the bars on her Gienger relase, but her father and coach helped her back up to finish her routine. It was the time she landed her competitive dismount since her comeback. She received a standing ovation from the 18,000 fans in the HP Pavilion at San Jose, California. Despite the end of her gymnastics career, Liukin went to London as the athletic representative for the Federatino of Internation Gymnasts.
Her discipline is formally referred to as Women’s artistic gymnastics and she is in the Senior International Elite level. She practiced at the World. Olympic Gymnastics Academy. Liukin began gymnastics at the age of three because she was always with her parents at the gym since they could not afford a babysitter. They did not initially aspire for their daughter to become a gymnast since they understand the high-pressure and stress associated with the sport but encouraged her after realizing her potential and love for it. By 2003, Liukin was on the of the strongest junior gymnasts in the United States. She has won the junior division of the U.S. National Championships, as well as gold medals on three of the four events. She repeated these in 2004 and was a member of the gold-winning U.S. team a the 2003 Pan Am Games.
Works Cited
"Nastia Liukin." Profile, Bio, Results, Medals and Photos. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013.
"Nastia Liukin." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 May 20.
