Valeri Viktorovich Liukin (; born 17 December 1966 in

Aktyubinsk Aktobe (, ; ) is a major city located on the Ilek River in western Kazakhstan. It serves as the administrative center of the Aktobe Region and is an important cultural, economic, and industrial hub in the region. As of 2023, the city has a popul ...

Kazakh SSR The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, KSSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Located in northern Centr ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

) is a Kazakh-American retired

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

currently working as a gymnastics coach. Representing the former Soviet Union, Liukin was the 1988 Olympic champion in the team competition and individually on the

horizontal bar The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syst ...

, and Olympic silver medalist in the all-around and the parallel bars. Liukin was the first man to do a triple back flip on floor and both a layout Tkatchev and a Jaeger with full twist on

high bar The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syste ...

. He also has one of the most difficult skills in men's artistic gymnastics named after him, the triple back (tucked) somersault. Liukin moved to the United States in 1992 and became a U.S. citizen in 2000. He is married to Anna Kotchneva, and is the father and coach of 2008 Olympic champion

Nastia Liukin Anastasia "Nastia" Valeryevna Liukin (; ; born October 30, 1989) is an Americans, American former artistic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 Olympic Gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic ind ...

. He is co-owner of the

World Olympic Gymnastics Academy The World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) is a two-facility gymnastics club located in Frisco, Texas, Frisco and Plano, Texas, Plano. In 1994, WOGA was established by Yevgeny Marchenko (gymnast), Yevgeny Marchenko, a World Sports acrobatic ch ...

with longtime friend Yevgeny Marchenko. On 15 December 2015, it was announced that Liukin had been inducted as part of the 2016 class into the

USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. It sets the domestic rules and policies that govern the sport, promotes and develops gymnastics on the grassroots ...

Hall of Fame. From 16 September 2016 to 2 February 2018, he was the coordinator for the

United States women's national gymnastics team The United States women's national artistic gymnastics team represents the United States in FIG international competitions. As of 2024, the U.S. team is the reigning World team champion and the reigning Olympic team gold medalists, with the f ...

, replacing

Márta Károlyi Márta Károlyi (; ; born August 29, 1942) is a Romanian-American gymnastics coach and the former national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics. She and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania, Romania, who trained athletes in ...

. He coached the Brazilian women's national gymnastics team as of 2018.

Career

Junior

Liukin began gymnastics when he was 7 years old. He moved to Moscow to join the Soviet Junior National team, where he made his international debut at the 1983 Friendship Cup.

Senior

At the 1987 European Championships in Moscow, he won gold medals in the all-around, on the

, and in the floor exercise where he was the first gymnast to perform a triple back somersault. He also won the silver medal on the still rings and the bronze on the vault. At the 1987 World Championships in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, he won the team competition with the Soviet Union. At the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea, Liukin won the gold medal in the team competition and was the co-champion on the horizontal bar with fellow Soviet gymnast

Vladimir Artemov Vladimir Nikolaevich Artemov (, born 7 December 1964) is a former Russian artistic gymnast, Olympic champion and world champion who competed for the Soviet Union. He is considered to be one of the greatest parallel bars workers of all time. He ...

. Liukin won the silver medal in the all-around and on the parallel bars. At the 1991 World Championships in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, he again was a member of the champion Soviet team in the team competition. He won the bronze medal in the all-around behind teammates

Grigory Misutin Hryhoriy Misyutin ( Ukrainian: Григорій Місютін; born 29 December 1970) is a Ukrainian artistic gymnast, formerly representing the Soviet Union and the Unified Team. External links * 1970 births Living people Peopl ...

and

Vitaly Scherbo Vitaly Venediktovich Scherbo} (born 13 January 1972) is a Belarusian former artistic gymnast. One of the most successful gymnasts of all time, he is the only male gymnast ever to have won a world title in all 8 events (individual all-around ...

. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Liukin competed for his native

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, most notably at the 1993 World Championships and the

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games (), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games () or simply Hiroshima 1994 (), were held from October 2 to 16, 1994, in Hiroshima, Japan. It was the first Asian Games in history to be hosted in a non-capital city. Th ...

, but he did not win a medal at either competition.

Coaching

Liukin coached the USA's second consecutive (and different) all around Olympic champion, his daughter,

, to the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. In addition, Nastia contributed to Team USA's silver medal finish in the team competition. She also earned silver on uneven bars, silver on balance beam, and bronze in the floor exercise. Notable gymnasts trained by Liukin include 2010 National Champion and 6-time world medalist

Rebecca Bross Rebecca Marie Bross (born July 11, 1993) is an American former artistic gymnast and six-time World Championship medalist. Personal life Rebecca Marie Bross is the daughter of Terry Bross and Donna Bross. She has one older brother named Benjami ...

as well as 2011 junior National champion and 2013 American Cup champion

Katelyn Ohashi Katelyn Michelle Ohashi (born April 12, 1997) is an American gymnast who competed for the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a six-time All-American and was a four-time member of USA Gymnastics' Junior National Team, the 2011 junior n ...

. Bross placed second in the all-around competition at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in London 2009 and teammate

Ivana Hong Ivana Hong (born December 11, 1992, in Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal American team at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the all-ar ...

placed third in the beam competition. However, Rebecca Bross and Nastia Liukin both failed to qualify for the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Olympic team. This resulted in Liukin's retirement from international and senior competition. Ohashi was too young to meet the eligibility criteria to compete in the Olympics. Liukin was the International Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2004. He was inducted into the

International Gymnastics Hall of Fame The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics. The early IG ...

in 2005. On 16 September 2016, he was named the coordinator for the

, replacing the retiring

. On February 2, 2018, Liukin resigned from this role amid the

USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal relates to the sexual abuse of hundreds of gymnasts—primarily Minor (law), minors—over two decades in the United States, starting in the 1990s. It is considered the largest sexual abuse scandal in sports ...

Controversies

Several gymnasts trained by Liukin, including Megan Marenghi,

and

Vanessa Atler Vanessa Marie Atler (born February 17, 1982) is an American former elite gymnast. She is the 1997 U.S. national all-around champion, the 1998 Goodwill Games gold medalist on the floor exercise and Vault (gymnastics), vault, and a four-time natio ...

, have come forward and accused Liukin of repeatedly shaming them about their weight even as young adolescents, leading several of them to develop

eating disorder An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that adversely affect a person's health, physical or mental health, mental health. These behaviors may include eating too much food or too little food. Types of eatin ...

s and depression. In 2022, Liukin was under investigation by the

United States Center for SafeSport The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization set up to reduce sexual abuse of minors and athletes in Olympic sports in the United States. Established in 2017 under the Protecting Young Victims from Sex ...

for allegedly verbally and psychologically abusing athletes and pressuring them to train or compete with broken bones or while ill.

Personal life

He married Anna Kotchneva, a 1987 World Champion

rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, fle ...

, while still competing himself. Their daughter,

, was born in Moscow in 1989. In 1992, Liukin moved to the United States and began a coaching career. Liukin originally settled in New Orleans, but later moved to

Plano, Texas Plano ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "flat surface" /'plano/) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, where it is the largest city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County. A small portion of Plano is located in Denton County, Texas, Denton Count ...

. Liukin owns and runs three World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) locations with business partner Yevgeny Marchenko. He had a small cameo in the film ''

Stick It ''Stick It'' is a 2006 American teen comedy-drama film starring Jeff Bridges, Melissa Peregrym and Vanessa Lengies written and directed by '' Bring It On'' writer Jessica Bendinger; the film marks her directorial debut and to date her onl ...

'' as the spotter in his daughter's uneven bars routine.

References

External links

* * * *
World Olympic Gymnastics Academy Homepage

Valeri Liukin Video Interviews on Gymnastike.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liukin, Valeri 1966 births Living people Gymnasts at the 1988 Summer Olympics Russian emigrants to the United States Kazakhstani male artistic gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic gymnasts for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in gymnastics

Valeri Valery () is a male given name and occasional surname. It is derived from the Latin name ''Valerius''. The Slavic given name Valeriy or Valeri is prevalent in Russia and derives directly from the Latin. Given name * Valery Afanassiev, Russian pia ...

Kazakhstani people of Russian descent People from Parker, Texas American people of Kazakhstani descent Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Soviet male artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from Aktobe Gymnasts at the 1994 Asian Games Gymnastics in Texas World Olympic Gymnastics Academy Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Naturalized citizens of the United States Asian Games competitors for Kazakhstan Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics European champions in gymnastics