Nastia Liukin

The 2008 Olympic Games came and went as quickly as Michael Phelps won his 100 meter butterfly race, and for many of us, a small dose of Olympics withdrawal followed the closing ceremony. Shape seems to have known how much everyone was missing the inspirational athletes that graced our screens in August, and sat down to chat with the graceful Nastia Liukin about her life after winning the gold.

When asked how her life has changed since the Olympics, Nastia told Shape, "It's a dream come true. It's amazing to know that all the years of hard work paid off. It wasn't an easy journey, especially with injuries, but it was worth it. I'm traveling all over right now."

To see her tips for healthy living, read more

The stars of Gossip Girl bundled up in NYC as they filmed yesterday and today. Blake's pup Penny wasn't the only special guest on the set — they were also joined by Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin, who will have a cameo in an upcoming episode. Last night's episode had its usual fill of gadgets, beauty, and fashion to crave, but it centered around the womanizer himself, Chuck Bass. Most of you voted Leighton Meester as the GG star with the most acting potential but Ed Westwick comes in a close second, which might be one of the reasons why they work so well together.

To see more photos of the cast and Nastia, just read more

Although I caught the Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday, other than that I didn't watch much of the events on TV. The one sport I did see was the balance beam finals. You may be wondering what this has to do with PetSugar (other than the fact that both Nastia and Shawn are doggie owners), but just bear with me here.
While I was watching this competition, I was struck by how differently the two girls performed and behaved at the event.

The lithe Nastia was very elegant while performing, and seemed composed and reserved on the sidelines. Shawn the dynamo, however, just looked so friendly and was bouncing around and happily chatting with her coach as the scores were tallied. So here I went with my 24/7 animal-crazed mind, and realized there were some words that I unconsciously associated with cats, and others that made me think of puppies.

Now, by no means am I intending to insult either girl (or the sport of gymnastics), but those words I used when describing Nastia totally reminded me of all the stereotypes of a cat, while those for Shawn made me think of a cute, lil puppy — am I totally off-base here? Are there any adjectives that you associate with puppies, and others that you would reserve for cats? Feel free to say I'm silly in your comments below!

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Women's gymnastics really seems like a sport for girls. While there were some older competitors, like Alicia Sacramone of the US and China's Cheng Fei who are both 20, it seems a sport loaded with youngsters. So what happens to these women, or girls, after competing at the top? All-around gold medal winner Nastia Liukin and her teammate Shawn Johnson are definitely approaching their futures differently. These girls roomed together at the Olympics and wanted to go gold and silver in as many events as they could, but let me tell you about their next moves.

The 18-year-old Nastia Liukin will be heading home to Texas Thursday with her five medals, one gold, one bronze, and three silvers. She has many ad campaigns in the works, including one for Visa, and you can expect to see her on the Jay Leno show sometime next week. Daughter of Olympian gymnasts, Liukin plans on competing in the 2009 world championships.

To see what Shawn's future holds, read more

Like most of the country, I have been glued to the Olympic coverage. In the wee hours of Friday morning, I watched 18–year–old American Nastia Liukin earn the title as the third American woman to win the all around gold medal for the US. Holding my breath and grinding my teeth with every approach she made, I rooted her on. But nobody wanted it more than her dad.

Twenty years ago, her father and coach, Valeri Liukin, won two gold medals for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Olympics. He fell short of winning the overall gold medal in the individual competition by one tenth of a point to a fellow countryman. Interestingly enough, one of the commentators for NBC said that papa is known for saying, "Second is the worst on the world; only one color works for this family." Talk about pressure. After she won the gold, he said:

She fix my mistakes. . . I lose by one-tenth of a point to Vladimir, but she fix that.

Luckily she won the medal for herself, her parents and America. I hope this lil lady doesn't let daddy forget who brought home the gold.
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Last night seemed like a redemption match, gymnastics styles. The top three were all amazing, but Nastia Liukin was the best in the all-around competition. She gracefully stepped out from behind Shawn Johnson's athletic shadow and was lovely on the beam as well as the other three elements: uneven bars, floor, and vault. The Chinese gymnast Yilin Yang took the bronze.

On her winning a gold medal Nastia said: "I can't believe it still. I worked so hard for many years for this, I don't know what to say. I couldn't have been here without my parents."

Shawn was gracious about winning silver medal and explained, "It's been a long road, I feel like the baby of the group, to come out with silver is an amazing experience."

Congrats to all the gymnasts and a thank you for creating a night of exciting competition.

To see some great photos from the event, just read more