![]() ![]() team at the 2003 Pan Am Games she took second place in the all-around behind fellow American Chellsie Memmel. Liukin was a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. She repeated these accomplishments in 2004. National Championships, as well as gold medals on three of the four events: uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. 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.īy 2003, Liukin was one of the strongest junior gymnasts in the United States. 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. In contrast to her WOGA 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. Liukin competed in her first National Championships as a junior in 2002, at the age of 12½. 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 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. Nastia's signature color is pink, hence her pink leotard worn during the 2008 Beijing Olympics All-Around competition. She attended New York University after the 2012 Olympics. She returned to campus in Spring 2009, but her travel schedule and professional commitments caused her to withdraw before the end of the semester. 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 graduated from Spring Creek Academy, located in Plano, Texas, in the spring of 2007. Liukin was coached by her father during her career. ![]() She began gymnastics after spending time in the gym while her parents coached. In 1994, Valeri Liukin teamed with another former Soviet champion athlete, Evgeny Marchenko, to open the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Plano. The family moved to the United States when 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. Her nickname Nastia is a Russian diminutive for Anastasia. Liukin 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. After an unsuccessful National Championships and Olympic Trials, she retired from the sport. In October 2011, Liukin announced that she was returning to the sport of gymnastics with the hopes of making the 2012 Olympic team. Liukin has represented the United States at three World Championships, the 20 Pan American Games, and the 20 Pacific Rim Championships. senior National Champion on the uneven bars since 2005. National Champion, winning twice as a junior and twice as a senior. Since 2005, Liukin has been a key member of the U.S. She was the all-around silver medalist at the 2003 Pan American Games. junior national team when she was 12 years old and won the National all-around title at the age of 13. Liukin has also tied Miller's record as the American gymnast having won the most medals in a single non-boycotted Olympic Games. With nine World Championships medals, seven of them individual, Liukin is tied with Shannon Miller for the third-highest tally of World Championship medals. She is the 2008 Olympic individual all-around Champion, the 20 World Champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World Champion on the uneven bars.
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