1. Nastia Liukin is the 2008 Olympic all-around champion, a five-time Olympic medalist, the 2005 and 2007 World champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World champion on the uneven bars.
64 Facts About Nastia Liukin
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Nastia Liukin is a four-time all-around US national champion, winning twice as a junior and twice as a senior.
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Nastia Liukin tied Miller's record as the American gymnast having won the most medals in a single non-boycotted Olympic Games.
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In October 2011, Nastia Liukin announced that she was returning to gymnastics with the hopes of making a second Olympic team.
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Nastia Liukin did not make the 2012 Olympic team and retired from the sport on July 2,2012.
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Nastia Liukin was born on October 30,1989, in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
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Nastia Liukin is the only child of two former Soviet champion gymnasts: 1988 Summer Olympics double-gold medalist Valeri Liukin and 1987 World clubs champion in rhythmic gymnastics Anna Kotchneva.
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Nastia Liukin's nickname Nastia is a Russian diminutive for Anastasia.
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The family emigrated to the United States when Nastia Liukin was two and a half years old, following the breakup of the Soviet Union and easing of travel restrictions, and settled first in New Orleans before moving to Texas.
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In 1994, Valeri Nastia Liukin teamed up with another former Soviet champion athlete, Yevgeny Marchenko, to open the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano, Texas.
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Nastia Liukin graduated from Spring Creek Academy, located in Plano, Texas, in the spring of 2007.
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Nastia Liukin enrolled as an international business major at Southern Methodist University in January 2008, and took a leave from classes to concentrate on preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games.
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Nastia Liukin returned to campus in spring 2009, but her travel schedule and professional commitments caused her to withdraw before the end of the semester.
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In January 2013, Nastia Liukin attended New York University where she studied sports management and psychology, graduating in May 2016.
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Nastia Liukin has been involved with numerous charities and philanthropy over the years including Cards for Hospitalized Kids, breast cancer awareness and more.
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Nastia 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.
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Nastia Liukin competed in her first national championships as a junior in 2002, at the age of 12 and a half.
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In contrast to her WOGA teammates Carly Patterson and Hollie Vise, who finished first and second, respectively, Nastia Liukin fell on the uneven bars which rendered her unable to finish the routine.
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Nastia Liukin 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 US National Team.
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Nastia Liukin was chosen to compete with the US 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 in the all-around.
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Nastia Liukin was a member of the gold medal-winning US team at the 2003 Pan American Games; she took second place in the all-around behind teammate Chellsie Memmel.
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Nastia Liukin won the all-around in the junior division of the 2004 Pacific Alliance Championships.
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Nastia Liukin repeated as junior US all-around champion in 2004.
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In March 2006, Nastia Liukin placed first in the all-around at the American Cup.
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At the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships, Nastia Liukin tied with teammate Memmel for first in the all-around, won the uneven bars title and a silver medal on beam, and contributed to the US team's gold-medal performance.
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Nastia Liukin competed at the 2006 US Classic as the defending all-around champion, but falls on the uneven bars and floor resulted in a fourth-place finish.
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In late August, at the 2006 US National Championships, Nastia Liukin successfully defended her all-around, beam and bars titles, becoming a two-time senior national champion.
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Nastia Liukin was named to the US team for the 2006 World Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, and was expected by many to be a strong contender for the all-around title.
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Nastia Liukin competed only on bars and beam, contributing to the team's gold-medal finish and winning individual silver medals in the uneven bars and balance beam finals.
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Nastia Liukin posted the highest score of the entire meet on bars and the second highest score on beam on the second day of competition, winning the senior bars title for the third year in a row and placing second on beam.
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Nastia Liukin's score for her bars routine in team finals was a 16.375, the highest score of the day and, in the end, the entire World Championships.
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Nastia Liukin earned a silver on the uneven bars behind Russia's Ksenia Semenova, scoring a 16.300 after taking a step on her dismount.
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Nastia Liukin's first meet of the 2008 season was the American Cup in New York City, where she defeated 2007 winner Shawn Johnson to regain her title.
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Nastia Liukin posted the highest score of the meet, a 16.600 on the uneven bars.
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At the 2008 US National Championships in Boston, Nastia Liukin fell on the floor on her double front tuck on the first day of competition, but had a strong meet on her other events and placed second in the all-around behind Shawn Johnson.
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Nastia Liukin regained her national champion title on the beam and defended her national title on the uneven bars for the fourth consecutive year, scoring 17.050 in preliminaries and 17.100 in finals.
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Nastia Liukin performed in the all-around in the qualifying round of competition.
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Nastia Liukin fell on her dismount from the uneven bars, but nevertheless qualified for the all-around final with a score of 62.325.
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Nastia Liukin performed second on balance beam, matching her qualifying score of 15.975.
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However, He Kexin was awarded the gold medal, and Nastia Liukin got the silver, after a tie-breaking calculation that took into account individual marks given by judges on the B-panel.
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Nastia Liukin decided that she was not done with gymnastics and made her first post-Olympics competitive appearance at the CoverGirl Classic, where she competed only on the balance beam.
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Nastia Liukin just performed on the beam at the US Championships, placing fourth.
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Nastia Liukin was added to the national team and included in the World Championships selection camp.
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Nastia Liukin announced in the fall of 2011 that she had resumed training for the 2012 Olympic Games.
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Nastia Liukin returned to competition at the 2012 US Classic and only competed on the balance beam, where she finished third.
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At the Visa Championships, Nastia Liukin competed on the balance beam and the uneven bars.
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Nastia Liukin went to London as the athlete representative for the International Gymnastics Federation.
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Nastia Liukin has one eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points.
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The Nastia Liukin Cup is an annual gymnastics competition held in the United States that is hosted by Liukin.
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Since its inception in 2010, all net proceeds from the Nastia Liukin Cup have gone to the fund.
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Nastia Liukin had cameo roles in the April 2006 Touchstone Pictures film Stick It, and a 2008 episode of Gossip Girl.
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Nastia Liukin was on The Tour of Gymnastics Superstars after the 2008 Olympic Games, which was broadcast nationwide on MyNetworkTV.
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On February 24,2015, Nastia Liukin was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on the 20th season of Dancing with the Stars.
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Nastia Liukin was partnered with professional dancer and five-time champion Derek Hough.
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Nastia Liukin later returned to Dancing with the Stars during season 27 to be a trio partner to Mary Lou Retton and Sasha Farber.
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On May 4,2015, Nastia Liukin was announced as the grand marshal for the 99th Indianapolis 500.
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In January 2023, Nastia Liukin appeared on the reality show Special Forces on FOX alongside other celebrities.
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Nastia Liukin serves as an analyst for NBC Sports Group during their coverage of gymnastics events.
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Nastia Liukin was a special correspondent for NBC during the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
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In 2017, Nastia Liukin launched her own line of gymnastics equipment, including mats, bars and balance beams in her signature pink, produced by American Athletic, Inc.
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Nastia Liukin appeared in an Adidas commercial with Nadia Comaneci that ran during the 2004 Olympics and a 2008 commercial for Visa Inc Nastia Liukin signed an endorsement deal on March 15,2010, and appeared in commercials for Subway.
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Nastia Liukin was a Longines Sports Ambassador of Elegance in 2006 and, along with her teammates Shawn Johnson and Alicia Sacramone, was one of the first female athletes ever to be signed as CoverGirl spokesmodels.
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Nastia Liukin collaborated with Vanilla Star Jeans to create a junior girls' clothing line and has modeled for Max Azria.
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Nastia Liukin released her autobiography, Finding My Shine, on November 24,2015.