Gold: Liukin on the uneven bars. Photo: Mike Powell for NEWSWEEK
Five years ago I went down to a gym in Plano, Tex. to spend some time with and watching one of the most promising American gymnasts, Carly Patterson. Patterson lived up to her billing the following year when she won the all-around at the Olympics in Athens.
Yet on that day in Texas, my eye kept being drawn to a precocious 14-year-old who was working out along with Patterson. Later I asked one of the coaching assistants about her. She was the daughter of one of the gym owners, a former Soviet Olympic star, and the coach whispered that if I thought Patterson was good—and she was—this kid was destined to be something truly special. However she was still too young (except perhaps in China) to be eligible for the 2004 Olympic team. I was so impressed with the youngster's style that I returned to that Dallas-area gym three years later and profiled her for NEWSWEEK's year-end "Who's Next" special issue.
The young girl was, of course, Nastia Liukin and "next" turned out to be today in Beijing when Liukin soared majestically above the field and succeeded her gymmate Patterson as Olympic all-around champion. The victory came 20 years to the day that her father Valeri, who coaches her, lost the men's all around gold medal at the Seoul Olympics by just 1/10th of a point. "I hope I made up for that," she said. "I hope he enjoyed this as much as I did."
He clearly did, though he said he never dreamed that his daughter would do gymnastics—"it's so hard"—let alone follow in his Olympic footsteps. So too did everyone who witnessed her goose-bump evoking performance—including the Chinese fans who were first gracious and ultimately captivated as their own favorites finished third and sixth. After a decent score on her one pedestrian event, the vault, Liukin delivered a succession—on bars, on beam and finally, on floor—of dazzlingly complex and lyrical moves to win the gold medal by more than half a point over her teammate and defending world champion Shawn Johnson.
The promise that was so evident years ago was not fulfilled without a difficult struggle. Just before the magazine anointed her with that "who's next" (soccer's Freddy Adu and figure skater Sarah Hughes were earlier choices), she injured her ankle, the first of a long succession of nagging hurts that kept her off the mats or slightly sub-par on it. While she won a host of medals at world championships—four golds and five silvers—she slipped to fifth in the all-around at last year's worlds.
The new "it" girl was the diminutive Johnson, who won that competition and beat Liukin at both the 2008 nationals and the Olympic Trials. "It's not easy to be second," said her father. "But I believed she wasn't second. We made mistakes and we weren't ready." In the world of gymnastics, being ready means being able to repeat what you do every day in practice in the pressure-cooker that is Olympic competition. Liukin said her dad told her, 'Don't do anything better than you know how to do it. Just do it normal."
Johnson, 16, and Liukin, 18, are total contrasts in styles. The diminutive Johnson is bouncy and athletic and can light up an arena with her smile. Her performances are reminiscent of American stars like Mary Lou Retton and Kim Zmeskal and, appropriately, she wore fireplug red for the Olympic competition. Liukin is more reminiscent of some of the great Soviet and Romanian stars. While only 5'3", Nastia is lean and long-limbed and, in her pink, sometimes looks more ballerina than gymnast.
Johnson made no major mistakes and on many days, including some Olympics past, might have been good enough for gold. "I gave my heart and soul to the competition," she said afterwards. "Today was not my day. [Nastia] deserves that gold today." But all things being equal, elegance should always trump pzazz. "It has been a long journey, but every single moment has been worth it," said Liukin. "It's a dream come true. I couldn't be more thankful."
