Nastia Liukin is a famous gymnast that won the all around title at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. I am a gymnast myself, and Nastia was the first gymnast that inspired me in the sport. She was born in Moscow, Russsia to her dad Valeri Liukin and her mom Anna Liukin. Her dad was an Olympic Gold medalist at the 1988 Olympic Games, and her mom was a gold medalist at the 1987 Rhythmic World Championchips. Her parents, knowing how hard gymnastics is on the body and the brain, did not intend on having nastia do gymnastics, but nastia was very good at it and loved it, so she continued in the sport and went on to acheive many gold medals. This is what was inspiring to me, that nobody pushed nastia into doing the sport, she just really wanted to do it. Nastia has her own signiture move on the balance beam, called the Liukin (shown in the picture above). Nastia also has one of the most graceful floor routines, her score comes mostly from the dance elements of her routine rather than the tumbling skills. I really like how graceful nastia is, I am not a graceful gymnast at all, and nastia has helped me want to try and get better at that part of gymnastics. Nastia also has her own line of gymnastics leotards that she helps design with GK Elite Sportswear, i have bought one of her leotards. Although Nastia is an athlete, she is also an artist, as shown in her beautiful dance elements within her routines, and her leotard designs.
2 of Nastia's leotard designs are above.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastia_Liukin - this is a link to the Wikipedia page about Nastia Liukin, it shows all of her achievements and tells a lot more about her biography and her career in gymnastics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoPNGc6Lg8k - this is a link to a youtube video of Nastia's beam routine at the 2008 Olympics. At 1:10 is her signiture skill, the Liukin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_80QQF-KcU - this is a link to a youtube video of Nastia's floor routine at the 2008 Olympics, showing her amazing and graceful dance.
http://www.nastialiukin.com/ - This is a link to Nastia's website that tells about her gymnastics career and many other things she has done, including appearances on TV shows and movies and shows all her sponsors. This would be the best site to get information about Nastia since it is created by people who are in very close relation to her.