By Véronique Bury, FIG Editor

FAMILY SAGA

It's a story to remember. Unique in its own right. Twenty years after her father took the all-around Silver medal at the Olympic Games in Seoul under the colours of the USSR, Nastia Liukin took the Gold at the Olympic Games in Beijing to the glory of the United States, the country to which her parents immigrated in 1991. "In 1988, I finished second, fifty hundredths of a point shy of the Gold because of a simple arm movement during my dismount from the high bar. Today, twenty years later, it's as if Nastia has finally corrected my mistake," commented Valeri Liukin on Friday as journalists from all over the world hovered around his daughter.

Born to an Olympic high bar champion (1988) and rhythmic gymnastics world champion (1987) Anna Kotchneva, Nastia couldn't help but fall in love with apparatus and competitions. She got her bearings at the apparatus in her father's own gym, the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, before taking her place on the American junior team. But having been born in 1989, Nastia was too young to participate in the Athens Games in 2004 even though she boasted a sufficient technical level. Thus it was as late as 2005 that gymnastics circles finally got a chance to discover this slender, indisputable gymnast. Nastia Liukin just missed becoming the all-around world champion by one small thousandth of a point, but took home the title at the bars and the beam.

Having injured her knee in 2006, she participated in the world championships uneven bar events only. Fifth at the worlds in Stuttgart, Nastia realised that in order to fulfil her Olympic dream in the all-around, she would have to increase her start value and add new difficulty elements to her routines. "I tried to compensate for my weakness at vault with a higher start value at the uneven bars. I worked hard on execution, especially on beam," explained Nastia.

Her motivation and determination Friday made all the difference in the world. "Nastia gives the impression of being a calm person, but inside she's a real tiger," confided her father. Her whole family was behind her. "A few months ago, my mom made me a collage of pictures. Some time after that, she came and hung my dad's medal beside it. From that day on, I promised myself that in a few months I would have my own. That was a great motivation for me," revealed Nastia.

But a Silver team medal and a world champion all-around title in Beijing is not enough. The young woman who figures among Glamour magazine's 11 Greatest Bodies on Earth list now hopes to glean even more medals at the three apparatus finals for which she's a qualifier. "My father has two Gold medals and two Silver, and I still have three finals to contend," announced the young 18-year old woman, who is determined to do the same... if not better.