Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin is the daughter of two Russian gymnastic champions who had moved to the U.S. Liukin represented the U.S. in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where she won gold in the all-around, silvers on bar and beam, and bronze on floor. Liukin didn’t make the team for the 2012 Olympics, though this didn’t stop her from branching out. She’s made many appearances at special events and on TV, including Dancing with the Stars and Ninja Warrior.
Nastia Liukin
Larisa Latynina
Larisa Latynina was born in 1934, grew up in Ukraine, where the brutality of Stalin’s repression and Hitler’s invasion occurred. It started in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, Latynina got a staggering nine golds, five silvers and four bronze medals throughout three Olympic Games. In 1958, Latynina joined the World Championships while she is almost three months pregnant and even won five gold medals. After she retired from competition, she became a national gymnastics team coach of the Soviet women’s team who won gold in 1968, 1972, and 1976, Latynina then decided to retired from coaching. Then, Latynina was an organizer for the 1980 Moscow Games’ gymnastics competition. Latynina from the Soviet Union was a record-holder, having won no less than 18 Olympic medals, five of them gold. It was 2012 when Michael Phelps defeated her. After winning the Olympics between 1956 and 1964, she became the coach of the Soviet team. Today, she lives in a rural estate in Russia.
Larisa Latynina