Athletes

Nastia began gymnastics at an early age, following in the footsteps of her parents who both competed at elite level for the Soviet Union during the late 1980's and early 1990's. Competing earlier than most at the age of six and training under some of the best coaches in the USA including her father Valeri, Nastia has grown into a gymnastic icon.

As a Senior International Elite gymnast, Nastia is a five time Olympic Medalist, four time World Champion, nine time World medalist, four time US National Champion and has won multiple Pacific Rim and American Cup titles. In 2005 she was also named the Gymnast of the Year by the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame and was a nominee in both the World Top 10 Athletes Award and the US Sport's Academy Athlete of the Year Award. After sustaining an ankle injury in 2006, Nastia’s career was put on hold as she underwent surgery. Nastia came back stronger than ever in 2007 and joined 1996 Olympic Champion Shannon Miller as the most decorated American gymnast in World Championship competition. 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. She posted the highest score of the meet, a 16.6 on the uneven bars. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Nastia led the USA Women’s Gymnastics team to a Silver scoring the highest score of the competition on the uneven bars, a 16.9. Two days later, Nastia became only the third American woman to claim the coveted all-around title, joining her training partner at her Texas gym, Carly Patterson, from 2004 and Mary Lou Retton from 1984.

When she is not in the gym, Nastia enjoys reading, shopping, snow skiing and spending time with her friends.