The daughter of two former Soviet champion gymnasts, Olympic gold medalist Valeri Liukin – the first man to do a triple backflip – and World Champion rhythmic gymnast Anna Kotchneva, Nastia Liukin was born in Moscow and moved to the United States as a young child. She began gymnastics after spending time in the gym while her parents coached. Liukin is coached by her father at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, her family's gymnastics club in Plano, Texas.
Liukin became a member of the U.S. junior national team when she was 12 years old and won the National all-around title at the age of 13. She was the all-around silver medalist at the 2003 Pan American Games. Since 2005, Liukin has been a key member of the U.S. senior team. She is a four-time all-around U.S. National Champion, winning twice as a junior and twice as a senior. She has been the U.S. senior National Champion on the uneven bars since 2005. Liukin has represented the United States at three World Championships, the 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games, and the 2006 and 2008 Pacific Rim Championships.
* 1 Personal life
* 2 Junior career
* 3 Senior career
o 3.1 2005–2006
o 3.2 2007
o 3.3 2008
+ 3.3.1 2008 Olympics
o 3.4 2009
* 4 Routines
* 5 Floor music
* 6 Media appearances
o 6.1 Film and television
o 6.2 Professional Alliances
* 7 Competitive history
* 8 References
* 9 External links
Liukin was born on October 30, 1989, in Moscow, Russia SFSR, USSR. She is the only child of two former Soviet champion gymnasts: 1988 Summer Olympics gold medalist Valeri Liukin and 1987 World Clubs Champion in rhythmic gymnastics Anna Kotchneva Liukin and her family are members of the Russian Orthodox church. Her nickname Nastia is a Russian diminutive for Anastasia. The family moved to the United States when Nastia Liukin was two and a half years old, after the breakup of the Soviet Union and settled first in New Orleans before moving to Texas. In 1994, Valeri Liukin teamed with another former Soviet champion athlete, Evgeny Marchenko, to open the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano.
Liukin is fluent in English and Russian. She graduated from Spring Creek Academy, located in Plano, Texas, in the spring of 2007 She had enrolled as a freshman international business major at Southern Methodist University in January 2008, but took a leave from classes to concentrate on preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games. She returned to campus in Spring 2009, but her travel schedule and professional commitments caused her to withdraw before the end of the semester. Nastia's signature color is pink, hence her pink leotard worn during the 2008 Beijing Olympics All-Around competition.
Liukin currently updates a blog on her official website and regularly posts on Twitter as @NastiaLiukin. She has a line of GK Gymnastics Leotards and grips and a line of pink gymnastics equipment from AAI.
It is rumored that Nastia Liukin is in a relationship with American figure skater Evan Lysacek. People Magazine claimed to confirm their relationship in a February 2010 article but Lysacek denied the rumors in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, stating that the two are just "very close friends
Liukin began gymnastics at the age of three because she was "always hanging around in the gym with her parents, who could not afford a babysitter to look after her while they were working as coaches. Liukin's parents initially did not aspire for their daughter to become a gymnast, knowing the pressure of high-level competition firsthand, but relented when they noticed her aptitude for the sport
Liukin competed in her first National Championships as a junior in 2002, at the age of 12½. In contrast to her teammates Carly Patterson and Hollie Vise who finished first and second respectively, Liukin suffered a fall on the uneven bars which rendered her unable to finish the routine. She continued through the rest of the competition, and despite the incomplete bars set, finished 15th, which landed her one of the final spots on the U.S. National Team.She was chosen to compete with the U.S. team at the 2002 Junior Pan American Championships, where she contributed to the team gold medal and placed second on the uneven bars, balance beam and all-around
By 2003, Liukin was one of the strongest junior gymnasts in the United States. She won the junior division of the U.S. National Championships, as well as gold medals on three of the four events: uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. She repeated these accomplishments in 2004. Liukin was a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the 2003 Pan Am Games; she took second place in the all-around behind fellow American Chellsie Memmel. She also won the all-around in the junior division of the 2004 Pacific Alliance Championships
Born in 1989, Liukin was ten months too young to compete as a senior in 2004, and thus was not eligible for a place on the U.S. team for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Her scores in the junior division at the 2004 U.S. National Championships were competitive with those being posted by the seniors, and Marta Karolyi, U.S. National Team Coordinator, has said that if Liukin had been eligible, she would have been named to the Olympic team
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin
No comments:
Post a Comment