TEAM LIUKIN!
C'mon, I know some of you love it!
(Emphasis on Valeri, but also some Nastia love bb.)
^ idk who this lady is............
Perfect pedigree: Nastia Liukin and her parents, Valeri and Anna
The three-member Parker, Texas Liukin clan is a family of world champions. Anna (Kochneva) Liukin was the 1987 world rhythmic champion with clubs, while Valeri was part of two Soviet world championship-winning teams. After moving to the U.S., Valeri and business partner Yevgeny Marchenko (who coached 2004 Olympic champion Carly Patterson) opened World Olympic Gymnastics Academy. Valeri and Anna were hesitant to let Nastia, not yet three, participate in gymnastics ("We knew how hard the sport is," Valeri said) but relented when they first comprehended Nastia's abilities while watching her imitate the older students.
"If God gives you talent, you're not meant to take it away," he said.
While Anna briefly coached Nastia, Valeri assumed full-time coaching duties. Under Valeri's meticulous eye, Nastia has won nine world championships medals -- more than her parents combined -- including four golds.
"My dad's voice comes into my head a lot," she Nastia said. "Just thinking of those little corrections throughout my routines."
And when things don't go as planned, Nastia says her disappointment is more than personal.
"It's upsetting I know for my dad too, because he's worked so hard with me and for me," she said.
Beijing, by the way, comes 20 years after Valeri won two gold medals at the Seoul Games.
SOURCE: NBCOlympics.com
Family legacy drives Liukin toward gold
Father, daughter talk about goals, gold and the Games
Posted Sunday, June 15, 2008 8:45 PM ET
Tell us about your Olympic experience. What was your frame of mind going in, what was it like 20 years ago?
Valeri Liukin: When you really feel that you are the Olympic champion ... it's just, unforgettable. And it doesn't sink that much in the first, I started feeling it about ten years later. Right after the Olympic Games, you come back and start working again. Back in Russia there are so many Olympic champions, so it almost used to be normal you know, kinda. So you come back in to the gym, and work work work, then I would say about ten years later then it starts sinking -- that you have achieved something.
Do people stop you on the street when you return to Kazakhstan?
V.L: People still remember you over there. Almost 20 years later. I got stopped by police because I was speeding or something and he looked at my ID and [said] "Are you Liukin? Are you that Liukin?" And he just gave me my ID back and let me go.
How did you get started in gymnastics?
V.L: That was a very big accident. My brother wanted to go to gymnastics [lessons] and signed himself up. I asked him to take me with him and he wouldn't do it. [So] I just followed him, hiding, but his coach, he saw me in the back at the door. He saw this little body, skinny with the big eyes and he goes, 'Hey, come on over here.' And of course I had that evil eye from my brother, like 'What are you doing here?'
Comparing your training situations -- Valeri in Russia in the 80s, Nastia in Texas, now.
Typical training day?
V.L: Oh boy. All my life was a camp. Seven o'clock wake up, 7:30 is line up, first practice, ran into the gym, practice about two hours, 9:30 breakfast, go back, 11 o'clock second workout I guess, until about 1:30 I believe. Then lunch, then third workout, 4:30-6:30, something like that, then seven o'clock dinner, and there ya go. Start all over again. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we did this, Tuesday was easy day for workouts and Saturday was easy. So, Sunday was day off.
Nastia Liukin: Well I wake up at 6:30 or 7, have breakfast and leave the house by 7:30, get to the gym at eight and work out till about noon. It's not always four hours in the morning; if you get your routines done quick, you're done with your plan, there's no reason to be spending extra time on stuff that you don't need to be doing. I just go home, eat lunch, take a quick nap, go back to the gym at three and work out till six.
Where you lived while away at training camps?
V.L: I lived in the same bed, in the same room for I guess 10 years. I had my room my everything for 10 years, same TV, nobody touched anything. It was just like second home, you walk in there, you don't have to sign anywhere, you just go to the plane to the round lake. Same circle, just going, same circle, everyday, to the gym, to the cafeteria, back to the room.
N.L: We're normally always in the same one, number 21, three beds. So it's me Rebecca, my teammate -- she's a junior -- and Alicia [Sacramone], most of the time. It's a pretty small room, but you don't need to much while you're training so it's just three beds, TV, shower, and then we have a common room and there's a really big TV with a bunch of channels and movies. That's where we do our therapy and where we spend [free] time.
Food?
V.L: Oh, we would eat a lot. I ate everything. I had to eat a lot, I was lightweight, I had to eat a lot and I could. So that was great, great, they carried a lot of food a lot of beef, everything fresh, everything great in there. Pretty much there was no limits for me. Until this point still (laughs). I can eat anything and as much as I can.
N.L: Every meal they have a protein, a vegetable and a starch. It's always the same meals every camp, we guess, "What's it going to be?" They just rotate the order. I don't know, you get used to it. It's the same thing, but I guess it's fine.
V.L: It's a great situation over there. Everybody likes it. Everyone is set to work hard. And just, nothing bothers you-you are in the forest. Good meal, everyone is resting. Good conditions, very decent.
Anything about training at the Ranch that reminds either of you of Round Lake?
V.L: Yeah yeah. We actually at some point in our gym called that Round Lake Two. Because you know, [Bela's] got the lake in there. Actually a big lake and a few little ones. But it's pretty much I walk in a gym when I was seven and I am still there. And pretty much the same amount of hours.
N.L: Even every time for me too, no matter the last time I was there, every time you walk in it feels like you were just there. That smell, just everything around you just feels like you were just there last week. Even if it's been three months it seems like you were just there.
Nastia when you see tapes of your dad, what stands out to you?
N.L: Amazing gymnastics. He did so many unique skills and tried to set himself apart from the rest of the field. And having his two skills in the book named after him is just something that was different that sets your apart from the rest of the competitors. I think you can [see that] in my gymnastics.
V.L: We did a lot of things, back in the 80s, a lot of good things that people don't even do now. We've been doing double fronts on the high bar and catching the bar, quadruples and triple back with a full twist and we've done all this. Triple back of the p-bars we were doing, not very many people knew this and I thought Nastia could do it on bars ...
N.L (laughing): Not the right body type for a triple back.
V.L: She is not a flipper I would say, she's a twister. She turns and moves well, I guess that comes from Mom. Definitely not from me but the character, that has something to do with me for sure.
Valeri, you've compared coaching to art.
V.L: All the coaches they give a life for that sport, you have to. You have to live in a gym to create a world champion. I am feeling like I am an artist. I'm creating, I took a little girl, and I made a gorgeous gymnast out of her, and that is what I feel artists do. They take a piece of paper and they create something unbelievably beautiful. And that goes through the ages and generations and people can see and remember and enjoy. That's what happens.
Do you feel like some of the art has been lost in the sport?
V.L: It's getting harder, it's getting harder. But that's what makes the separation: the great gymnasts from the gymnasts. Back when [Nastia] was little ... we did our homework. We did line her up. We worked on handstands and we worked on her flexibility a lot.
What one thing have you taken away from your dad as a coach?
N.L: [He's said that during a routine, all] he was thinking about was how to stick the dismount and that's something that he has tried to teach me. Don't go into you routines thinking to make it or not, don't think if you're going to fall or if you're going to make it but go into it thinking about how good you're going to make it. It's not whether you're going to fall, or whether you will stay on, but it's to get all those extra tenths and to get the highest execution possible.
Can you ever get away from the sport?
N.L: You'd think we get enough about gymnastics but that's like all we can talk about ... 'How bout that routine today?' or' What about you know,' it's just funny to listen to our conversations and then we're like, 'OK, enough gymnastics now. Let's talk about something different.' Then of course it comes back up.
V.L: It's the same thing with the coaches; it's the same thing. Sounds very familiar.
N.L: And even on the bus, to or from practice, it's always gymnastics, sometimes it's like, 'OK, let's talk about something else right now.' And then once again it comes back into the conversation. But it's our life. We can't live without it. You just accept that and you're always going to be thinking and talking and dreaming about gymnastics.
V.L: No boys now, huh? (laughs)
N.L: No time (laughs)
V.L: Not yet.
Or not allowed?
N.L: It's not what I'm focused on right now.
V.L: I was wondering what she was going to say. (laughs) Because it's never been a subject in the house yet.
You have more world medals than your dad now, right?
N.L: World medals I think, he has seven right?
V.L: No, I think I had five. Yeah, she beat us both. Combined, with mom.
In 2004, you said that everyone talks about the Olympics, but it's not the only thing in the world...
V.L: Absolutely, we think that way . Like I said before, this is our life and we live our life through gymnastics at this point. But our family is a lot stronger that just gymnastics.
Nastia works through pain, but Valeri as her father is that hard to watch?
V.L: Of course it is, it's very tough to see her suffering but I've done this a few times and I know. You can't stop that. This is what is in her blood. I've competed with a broken arm too, actually five events. So I know what the pain is, and trust me this is the last thing I would do for my kid. But I'm not making her do anything; you can't really make anybody go through the pain on this. It is really up to her and I know that this is maybe not the best thing, but we live life through gymnastics. And that's life for her. This is how we live, this is what we are. And I'll let her choose, really this moment, what's important for her. So I think, she is what she is. You know, and that's what she's doing. And I don't think she'll regret this ever. Or any of us in our family. She's, she's very tough. She's very tough. I've always been saying that little fragile body there's a big tiger that lives inside. That's great.
Do you have a career highlight?
V.L: Yeah, winning the last world championships. Becoming a world champion, this is definitely higher than anything in the world. Any of my medals.
Why?
V.L: When you coach it's a lot bigger than when you do it yourself. It's just living life, through someone else, especially when it's your own blood there. When it's your own kid. It's hard to describe that feeling of satisfaction, like she said, when they tell 'Champion of the World' and they name her name. This is just incredible feeling. It's just hard to put into words what you feel. So that's definitely one. Then of course beam happened and then she was second on floor and just can't believe the absolute celebration in life. But the first one.
N.L: The first one always sticks with you.
V.L: That's right.
She's competing against Oksana Chusovitina, a teammate of yours, Valeri, in 1991. What do you think about that?
V.L: She's definitely a hero. It's been so many years and she does it and whether it's easy for her or hard for her, I can't judge. Everyone bows in front of her. That's amazing what she does.
N.L: Here it's totally different. When you're at a high level and you're a professional and you have sponsors and great people supporting you. Back over there its so much harder.
But also, I'm sure the love of the sport. You have to, you can't just do it just because of something, you need to also love the sport.
V.L: It's very tough to do this for this reason. To get up every morning for the money issue-it doesn't pay enough money, to work that hard. You gotta love it.
SOURCE: NBCOlympics.com
Annnd this is a shameless plug, but if you're a Nastia fan, I ended up making a website not too long ago with a friend. Check it out, please!
TEAM-NASTIA
One last thing: I'm totes looking for more USWGT LJ friends, because I feel so lonely. Holler if you wanna be friends! I'm nice, I promise. :)
(Emphasis on Valeri, but also some Nastia love bb.)
^ idk who this lady is............
Perfect pedigree: Nastia Liukin and her parents, Valeri and Anna
The three-member Parker, Texas Liukin clan is a family of world champions. Anna (Kochneva) Liukin was the 1987 world rhythmic champion with clubs, while Valeri was part of two Soviet world championship-winning teams. After moving to the U.S., Valeri and business partner Yevgeny Marchenko (who coached 2004 Olympic champion Carly Patterson) opened World Olympic Gymnastics Academy. Valeri and Anna were hesitant to let Nastia, not yet three, participate in gymnastics ("We knew how hard the sport is," Valeri said) but relented when they first comprehended Nastia's abilities while watching her imitate the older students.
"If God gives you talent, you're not meant to take it away," he said.
While Anna briefly coached Nastia, Valeri assumed full-time coaching duties. Under Valeri's meticulous eye, Nastia has won nine world championships medals -- more than her parents combined -- including four golds.
"My dad's voice comes into my head a lot," she Nastia said. "Just thinking of those little corrections throughout my routines."
And when things don't go as planned, Nastia says her disappointment is more than personal.
"It's upsetting I know for my dad too, because he's worked so hard with me and for me," she said.
Beijing, by the way, comes 20 years after Valeri won two gold medals at the Seoul Games.
SOURCE: NBCOlympics.com
Family legacy drives Liukin toward gold
Father, daughter talk about goals, gold and the Games
Posted Sunday, June 15, 2008 8:45 PM ET
Tell us about your Olympic experience. What was your frame of mind going in, what was it like 20 years ago?
Valeri Liukin: When you really feel that you are the Olympic champion ... it's just, unforgettable. And it doesn't sink that much in the first, I started feeling it about ten years later. Right after the Olympic Games, you come back and start working again. Back in Russia there are so many Olympic champions, so it almost used to be normal you know, kinda. So you come back in to the gym, and work work work, then I would say about ten years later then it starts sinking -- that you have achieved something.
Do people stop you on the street when you return to Kazakhstan?
V.L: People still remember you over there. Almost 20 years later. I got stopped by police because I was speeding or something and he looked at my ID and [said] "Are you Liukin? Are you that Liukin?" And he just gave me my ID back and let me go.
How did you get started in gymnastics?
V.L: That was a very big accident. My brother wanted to go to gymnastics [lessons] and signed himself up. I asked him to take me with him and he wouldn't do it. [So] I just followed him, hiding, but his coach, he saw me in the back at the door. He saw this little body, skinny with the big eyes and he goes, 'Hey, come on over here.' And of course I had that evil eye from my brother, like 'What are you doing here?'
Comparing your training situations -- Valeri in Russia in the 80s, Nastia in Texas, now.
Typical training day?
V.L: Oh boy. All my life was a camp. Seven o'clock wake up, 7:30 is line up, first practice, ran into the gym, practice about two hours, 9:30 breakfast, go back, 11 o'clock second workout I guess, until about 1:30 I believe. Then lunch, then third workout, 4:30-6:30, something like that, then seven o'clock dinner, and there ya go. Start all over again. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we did this, Tuesday was easy day for workouts and Saturday was easy. So, Sunday was day off.
Nastia Liukin: Well I wake up at 6:30 or 7, have breakfast and leave the house by 7:30, get to the gym at eight and work out till about noon. It's not always four hours in the morning; if you get your routines done quick, you're done with your plan, there's no reason to be spending extra time on stuff that you don't need to be doing. I just go home, eat lunch, take a quick nap, go back to the gym at three and work out till six.
Where you lived while away at training camps?
V.L: I lived in the same bed, in the same room for I guess 10 years. I had my room my everything for 10 years, same TV, nobody touched anything. It was just like second home, you walk in there, you don't have to sign anywhere, you just go to the plane to the round lake. Same circle, just going, same circle, everyday, to the gym, to the cafeteria, back to the room.
N.L: We're normally always in the same one, number 21, three beds. So it's me Rebecca, my teammate -- she's a junior -- and Alicia [Sacramone], most of the time. It's a pretty small room, but you don't need to much while you're training so it's just three beds, TV, shower, and then we have a common room and there's a really big TV with a bunch of channels and movies. That's where we do our therapy and where we spend [free] time.
Food?
V.L: Oh, we would eat a lot. I ate everything. I had to eat a lot, I was lightweight, I had to eat a lot and I could. So that was great, great, they carried a lot of food a lot of beef, everything fresh, everything great in there. Pretty much there was no limits for me. Until this point still (laughs). I can eat anything and as much as I can.
N.L: Every meal they have a protein, a vegetable and a starch. It's always the same meals every camp, we guess, "What's it going to be?" They just rotate the order. I don't know, you get used to it. It's the same thing, but I guess it's fine.
V.L: It's a great situation over there. Everybody likes it. Everyone is set to work hard. And just, nothing bothers you-you are in the forest. Good meal, everyone is resting. Good conditions, very decent.
Anything about training at the Ranch that reminds either of you of Round Lake?
V.L: Yeah yeah. We actually at some point in our gym called that Round Lake Two. Because you know, [Bela's] got the lake in there. Actually a big lake and a few little ones. But it's pretty much I walk in a gym when I was seven and I am still there. And pretty much the same amount of hours.
N.L: Even every time for me too, no matter the last time I was there, every time you walk in it feels like you were just there. That smell, just everything around you just feels like you were just there last week. Even if it's been three months it seems like you were just there.
Nastia when you see tapes of your dad, what stands out to you?
N.L: Amazing gymnastics. He did so many unique skills and tried to set himself apart from the rest of the field. And having his two skills in the book named after him is just something that was different that sets your apart from the rest of the competitors. I think you can [see that] in my gymnastics.
V.L: We did a lot of things, back in the 80s, a lot of good things that people don't even do now. We've been doing double fronts on the high bar and catching the bar, quadruples and triple back with a full twist and we've done all this. Triple back of the p-bars we were doing, not very many people knew this and I thought Nastia could do it on bars ...
N.L (laughing): Not the right body type for a triple back.
V.L: She is not a flipper I would say, she's a twister. She turns and moves well, I guess that comes from Mom. Definitely not from me but the character, that has something to do with me for sure.
Valeri, you've compared coaching to art.
V.L: All the coaches they give a life for that sport, you have to. You have to live in a gym to create a world champion. I am feeling like I am an artist. I'm creating, I took a little girl, and I made a gorgeous gymnast out of her, and that is what I feel artists do. They take a piece of paper and they create something unbelievably beautiful. And that goes through the ages and generations and people can see and remember and enjoy. That's what happens.
Do you feel like some of the art has been lost in the sport?
V.L: It's getting harder, it's getting harder. But that's what makes the separation: the great gymnasts from the gymnasts. Back when [Nastia] was little ... we did our homework. We did line her up. We worked on handstands and we worked on her flexibility a lot.
What one thing have you taken away from your dad as a coach?
N.L: [He's said that during a routine, all] he was thinking about was how to stick the dismount and that's something that he has tried to teach me. Don't go into you routines thinking to make it or not, don't think if you're going to fall or if you're going to make it but go into it thinking about how good you're going to make it. It's not whether you're going to fall, or whether you will stay on, but it's to get all those extra tenths and to get the highest execution possible.
Can you ever get away from the sport?
N.L: You'd think we get enough about gymnastics but that's like all we can talk about ... 'How bout that routine today?' or' What about you know,' it's just funny to listen to our conversations and then we're like, 'OK, enough gymnastics now. Let's talk about something different.' Then of course it comes back up.
V.L: It's the same thing with the coaches; it's the same thing. Sounds very familiar.
N.L: And even on the bus, to or from practice, it's always gymnastics, sometimes it's like, 'OK, let's talk about something else right now.' And then once again it comes back into the conversation. But it's our life. We can't live without it. You just accept that and you're always going to be thinking and talking and dreaming about gymnastics.
V.L: No boys now, huh? (laughs)
N.L: No time (laughs)
V.L: Not yet.
Or not allowed?
N.L: It's not what I'm focused on right now.
V.L: I was wondering what she was going to say. (laughs) Because it's never been a subject in the house yet.
You have more world medals than your dad now, right?
N.L: World medals I think, he has seven right?
V.L: No, I think I had five. Yeah, she beat us both. Combined, with mom.
In 2004, you said that everyone talks about the Olympics, but it's not the only thing in the world...
V.L: Absolutely, we think that way . Like I said before, this is our life and we live our life through gymnastics at this point. But our family is a lot stronger that just gymnastics.
Nastia works through pain, but Valeri as her father is that hard to watch?
V.L: Of course it is, it's very tough to see her suffering but I've done this a few times and I know. You can't stop that. This is what is in her blood. I've competed with a broken arm too, actually five events. So I know what the pain is, and trust me this is the last thing I would do for my kid. But I'm not making her do anything; you can't really make anybody go through the pain on this. It is really up to her and I know that this is maybe not the best thing, but we live life through gymnastics. And that's life for her. This is how we live, this is what we are. And I'll let her choose, really this moment, what's important for her. So I think, she is what she is. You know, and that's what she's doing. And I don't think she'll regret this ever. Or any of us in our family. She's, she's very tough. She's very tough. I've always been saying that little fragile body there's a big tiger that lives inside. That's great.
Do you have a career highlight?
V.L: Yeah, winning the last world championships. Becoming a world champion, this is definitely higher than anything in the world. Any of my medals.
Why?
V.L: When you coach it's a lot bigger than when you do it yourself. It's just living life, through someone else, especially when it's your own blood there. When it's your own kid. It's hard to describe that feeling of satisfaction, like she said, when they tell 'Champion of the World' and they name her name. This is just incredible feeling. It's just hard to put into words what you feel. So that's definitely one. Then of course beam happened and then she was second on floor and just can't believe the absolute celebration in life. But the first one.
N.L: The first one always sticks with you.
V.L: That's right.
She's competing against Oksana Chusovitina, a teammate of yours, Valeri, in 1991. What do you think about that?
V.L: She's definitely a hero. It's been so many years and she does it and whether it's easy for her or hard for her, I can't judge. Everyone bows in front of her. That's amazing what she does.
N.L: Here it's totally different. When you're at a high level and you're a professional and you have sponsors and great people supporting you. Back over there its so much harder.
But also, I'm sure the love of the sport. You have to, you can't just do it just because of something, you need to also love the sport.
V.L: It's very tough to do this for this reason. To get up every morning for the money issue-it doesn't pay enough money, to work that hard. You gotta love it.
SOURCE: NBCOlympics.com
Annnd this is a shameless plug, but if you're a Nastia fan, I ended up making a website not too long ago with a friend. Check it out, please!
TEAM-NASTIA
One last thing: I'm totes looking for more USWGT LJ friends, because I feel so lonely. Holler if you wanna be friends! I'm nice, I promise. :)