Nastia Liukin
BY LEILANI FECHO
When Nastia was younger, her parents owned and worked at a gym. She was an only child and was born in Moscow, Russia. She was raised in Parker, Texas and spent most of her time in the gym. She is 26 years old and her birthday is on October 30, 1989. Her full name is Anastasia Valeryevna Liukin.
Here are some of her career highlights. In 2005, she got a World Champion Team gold medal. She also got 2005 American Cup gold medalist on beam. In 2006, she got a World Champion Team silver medal. And, in 2008 she got the same title as she did in 2005. In 2008, she got an all around gold medal.
Nastia Liukin tied Mary Lou Retton for the record of 5 medals at one game.
Her favorite event is beam, and favorite food is sushi. She first nationally competed in 2000. Her favorite book is the Twilight Series. She is 5 foot three, and her favorite color is pink.
This is her story. Anastasia “Nastia” Liukin was born in Moscow, Russia to Anna and Valeri Liukin. They were both champion gymnasts for Russia.
When Nastia was two and a half years old, the Liukin’s moved to the USA because they wanted to give their daughter every opportunity. The family first moved to New Orleans before settling in Texas.
Their family opened a gym in 1994 with one of Valeri’s former teammates. Her parents became coaches, so she spent a lot of time in the gym.
The gym was her playground, and so she found herself competing before the age of six, and an elite gymnast by the time she was twelve.
She competed in her first Jr. National Championships when she was twelve and even though she thought she didn’t do that well, she landed a spot on the Jr. National team.
She was chosen to go to the 2002 Jr. Pan American Games, and won the team a second place medal on bars, beam, and all around.
By 2003, Nastia Liukin won the Jr. National Championships and a gold medal in bars, beam, and floor. She was a member of the gold winning Pan American team in 2003.
In 2005, she won her first Sr. National Championships. At the 2005 World Championships she finished second, the gold going to her teammate Chellsie Memmel. There she also won the gold on bars, and beam, along with the silver on floor. She won the American Cup, along with tying for first place with Chellsie Memmel for the all around at the Pacific Alliance Championships and won the title “bars champion” there too.
At the 2006 National Championships, Nastia won the gold on bars, beam, and the all around. She got a spot on the 2006 World team, but an ankle injury limited her to only competing bars. There she won the silver medal on bars, and contributed to the team’s gold medal. After the World Championships, her ankle needed surgery. Her rehab seemed very slow to her, and she had a huge urge to train again.
In 2007, Nastia competed in the Pan American games. There she won the silver on bars and beam. Even though she couldn’t train as hard as she used to, she chose to compete in Nationals. She competed in the all around, placing third. She got a spot on the world team, and helped the team to another gold medal regaining her title as beam champion along the way.
In 2008, she competed in the American Cup, which she won. Then, she competed in the National Championships, placing second all around, and taking her title on bars and beam. A couple weeks later, she competed at the U.S. Olympic trials. She finished second, and earned a spot on the United States Olympic Team.
The Olympic Games were held in Beijing, China. She was thrilled! At the Olympic Games, she placed third on floor, second on bars and beam, and, after the performance of her life, she won the gold on all around, with Shawn Johnson following close behind with the second. They were one out of three pairs of gymnasts from the same team that had gotten back to back gold and silver on the all around.
She stopped competing for two years, and then put all of her effort into training for the 2012 Olympic games.
When the time came, Nastia competed in the 2012 Olympic trials, but was not successful. She fell on bars, ending her competitive career with the same skill that had started it, a gienger. Even though she fell on the gienger release, she got a standing ovation for getting back up and finishing her routine.
Nastia’s father told her that she didn’t have to compete on beam, but she wanted to. She performed a nearly flawless beam routine, getting a second standing ovation from the 18,000 fans in the stadium. Nastia finished her competitive career with 5 Olympic medals, and 9 World medals, the second most any U.S. gymnast had ever gotten.
In 2013, Nastia started college at NYU where she now studies sports management. She enjoys being commentator for sports’ events.
With her best friend Liz, she started an event called The Sunshine Tour. She did it so that gymnasts, parents, and even regular kids can meet Nastia, do Q&A and just spend time with her. She gives back 10% of the cost, so virtually every gym can afford it.
Recently Matt Lombardi proposed to her, and they plan to get married after the 2016 games. Nastia is commentating there. This is the story of how they met. They had been going out for a while, and while Nastia was on a Sunshine Tour, Matt asked to meet her parents. Before they went back to Boston, Matt asked Valeri Liukin, Nastia’s dad, to marry her. He said yes. Both of them went back to Boston, and the next day, went on a date to a restaurant. There Matt proposed. And, as I said before, Nastia said yes. She is very happy at NYU, and with her fiance and best friend, Liz. She designed her own line with AAI, and GK Elite. She also designed a line called Supergirl by Nastia ©. Nastia is interested in fashion, acting, education, and philanthropy. And obviously, gymnastics and commentating.
