Nastia Liukin biography
Nastia Liukin, in full Anastasiya Valeryevna Liukin, unique identify Anastasiya Valeryevna Lyukina, (born October 30, 1989, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.), American gymnast who gained 5 medals on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, greater than another gymnast on the Games.
Liukin was born right into a household of extraordinary gymnasts. Her Kazakh-born father and coach, Valery Lyukin, gained 4 medals for the Soviet Union on the 1988 Olympic Games and two extra on the 1991 world championships, and in 1987 he grew to become the primary gymnast to finish a triple again somersault on the ground train. Her mom, Anna Kochneva, additionally competed for the Soviet Union and was the 1987 rhythmic gymnastics world champion in golf equipment. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991), Lyukin moved his household to the United States, the place he cofounded the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Plano, Texas. (The household Anglicized their identify to Liukin once they grew to become U.S. residents.) Liukin’s dad and mom initially objected to her early curiosity in gymnastics, however she quickly grew to become recognized for her fashionable grace and the lengthy traces in her gymnastics strikes, which she made look easy.
Liukin was not age-eligible to qualify for the 2004 U.S. Olympic crew, so she watched as Carly Patterson, a teammate from WOGA, gained the all-around title. In 2005 Liukin gained her first U.S. senior nationwide title, and, on the world championships that yr, she took gold on the uneven bars and steadiness beam and earned the silver medal on the ground train. In the all-around competitors, she completed second to her teammate Chellsie Memmel by the slenderest of margins: 0.001 level.
Liukin once more gained the U.S. title in 2006, however she sprained her ankle at coaching camp simply earlier than the 2006 world championships. Although she was capable of compete solely on the uneven bars, she made the very best of her one-event look, profitable the silver medal, together with the crew silver. After ankle surgical procedure Liukin was again on type on the 2007 world championships, the place she claimed gold on the steadiness beam and within the crew competitors and silver on the uneven bars. She was additionally fifth all-around, displaying the world that the title was additionally inside attain.
At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Liukin gained 5 medals, together with the person all-around gold. She additionally earned the silver medal on the steadiness beam and the bronze on the ground train, and she or he led her crew to the silver—the U.S. girls’s second consecutive Olympic crew silver medal. On Liukin’s signature occasion, the uneven bars, she and Chinese gymnast He Kexin tied for the highest rating. After the tie-breaking process was put into place, He was awarded the gold medal, and Liukin acquired the silver. Although Liukin was disenchanted to not have gained on the uneven bars, her 5 medals made her essentially the most profitable gymnast on the Games in Beijing. In October the Women’s Sports Foundation named her Individual Sportswoman of the Year.