Nastia Liukin | |
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— Gymnast — | |
Liukin at The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection fashion show, February 2009
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Personal information | |
Full name | Anastasia Valeryevna Liukin |
Nickname(s) | Nastia |
Country represented | United States |
Born |
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Moscow, Russian Federation) |
October 30, 1989
Hometown | Parker, Texas, United States |
Height | 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) |
Weight | 110 lb (50 kg) |
Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics |
Level | Senior International Elite |
Years on national team | 2002–2009, 2011–2012 |
Gym | World Olympic Gymnastics Academy |
Head coach(es) | Valeri Liukin |
Assistant coach(es) | Natalya Marakova |
Former coach(es) |
Anna Liukin Joe Drake |
Choreographer | Natalya Marakova |
Music | "Variations on Dark Eyes" by Lara St. John |
Eponymous skills | Liukin (Balance beam) |
Retired | July 2, 2012 |
Medal record
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Education | New York University |
Parents |
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Website | nastialiukin |
Anastasia Valeryevna "Nastia" Liukin (Russian: Анастасия "Настя" Валерьевна Люкина; born October 30, 1989) is a Russian American retired artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic individual all-around champion, the 2005 and 2007 world champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 world champion on the uneven bars. She is also a four-time all-around U.S. national champion, winning twice as a junior and twice as a senior. With nine World Championships medals, seven of them individual, Liukin is tied with Shannon Miller for the third-highest tally of World Championship medals (among U.S. gymnasts). Liukin also tied Miller's record as the American gymnast having won the most medals in a single non-boycotted Olympic Games.
Liukin was a key member of the U.S. senior team. She represented the United States at three World Championships and one Olympic Games. In October 2011, Liukin announced that she was returning to gymnastics with the hopes of making a second Olympic team. Liukin did not make the 2012 Olympic team, after several falls at the Olympic Trials and other pre-Olympic events, and retired from the sport in 2012.
Liukin was born on October 30, 1989, in Moscow, Russia SFSR, Soviet Union. 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 immigrated to the United States when Nastia was two and a half years old, following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and settled first in New Orleans before moving to Texas. In 1994, Valeri Liukin teamed up with another former Soviet champion athlete, Yevgeny Marchenko, to open the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Plano, Texas.