Why I Like: Nastia Liukin

  I love Nastia. She is a great gymnast. Not to mention the all around champion of the Olympic Games. She was always a great gymnast who was humble when she won, and when she lost, she congratulated the gymnasts who won. The 2005 team final came to mind when Nastia congratulated Chellsie Memmel who beat Nastia in the all around battle by one-tenths of a point. Pure disappointment for Nastia Liukin, but she rose above and stood proud on the silver medal podium. But Nastia's redemption came later in the Worlds when she earned titles on the uneven bars and balance beam, beating Chellsie my a comfy margin. And not to mention beating two international legends on the event, on bars, British wonder Beth Tweddle, and on beam, Catalina Ponor who was the Olympic champion only one year before. She is a great gymnast, who was on a rocket ship all the way to the top since she started her career as a wee little three year old, because her father just happened to own a gym, she decided that she wanted to be a gymnast, but both her mother and father, being former gymnasts themselves, Anna, her mother, a well known rhythmic gymnast, and her father, a champion artistic gymnast for the USSR, knew what a big risk being a gymnast was, and decided to prevent her, but after a lot of annoyance from their daughter, she got in. She then rocket shipped to the top, eventually making the team in Beijing, although not winning team gold with her team (I know, devastating in the USA) She then went on to compete in the all around competition with her teammate, Shawn Johnson. She was extremely underscored on a stuck vault and a hit bars routine, neck and neck with Shawn Johnson. But after putting her experience in, and her beautiful lines and artistry into both her beam routine and her floor routine, not to mention her sheer toughness (She gets her lines and artistry from Anna, her mother, and from Valeri, she gets her sheer toughness. I love Nastia because of her achievements, and that she is the 2008 all around champ.