Nastia Liukin: Beijing U.S. Gymnastic Phenom Goes for Gold (Photos)

Posted on: August 14th, 2008 by: Meg0 comments

Nastia Liukin, 18, the daughter of former Soviet gymnasts Valeri Liukin and Anna Kotchneva, was born in Moscow and migrated to Plano, Texas as a young child. Her parents established the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy where Nastia trains.

Nastia is a Senior International Elite gymnast, four time World Champion, nine time World medalist, and four time U.S. National Champion. In 2005 she was named Gymnast of the Year by the Int’l Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

She was born Anastasia but is called Nast by her fellow gym rats. She is enrolled at Southern Methodist University but has taken deferred status in order to get ready for the Beijing Games.

Nastia Liukin beat out her team mate Shawn Johnson for gold in the Gymnastics All-Around competition. Her nearly flawless performance earned her the top honors. Johnson, who was favored to win the event took the silver medal.

The U.S. Olympic Gymnastics team took a silver medal in the team competition earlier this week. A poor performance by Alicia Sacramone took away their opportunity to earn gold. All of the team members will get another opportunity for individual medals later in the week.

Other hot U.S. Olympians include beach volleyball powerhouses Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, five time Olympian swimmer Dara Torres, and hot swimmer Natalie Coughlin.

We need to give equal time to one HOT guy. Check out photos of Michael Phelps here.

Check out photos of Nastia below.