Quick Chat With Nastia Liukin
June 06, 2008
it Beijing.
But Liukin has beaten the odds and proven all her doubters wrong, winning medals at each of the last three World Championships and remaining a favorite for the Games, due to start in a bit over 60 days.
Currently second in the U.S. standings behind reigning World Champ Shawn Johnson, Liukin is ready to finally live her Olympic dream.
We caught up with the Russian-born phenom after yesterday’s Championship prelims …
Q: What were your goals coming into this meet? Did you want to get your national title back?
A: Winning isn’t at the top of my list right now. I’m just trying to go out there and get my routines done. One of my biggest goals was to get a 17 [on bars] and I accomplished that, and I’m hoping to repeat that again, or even get a little higher, on Saturday.
Q: How did you feel about your bar routine, overall?
A: (big smile) I’m very happy. You know, I always say there are always little things you can fix. My dismount wasn’t as a good as I’d hoped it would be but, at the same time, when you see that 17 next to your name, I was just really proud of it.
Q: Were you surprised when the 17.05 came up?
A: (nodding) I was a little bit.
Q: What did your dad-coach, Valeri, say about the score?
A: I actually was walking halfway across the arena, so I just put my grips up and came back. He gave me a kiss and was, like, ‘Way to go.’ I mean, I guess that’s just kind of how we are. Deep down I know, in our hearts, we’re very excited. But, at the same time, when you accomplish something like that it’s still hard [to celebrate] when you start out with a fall [on floor] at the beginning.
So, I know, we were both thinking about that but trying to be happy about [the bars score,] so our emotions were [all over the place].
Ever since I came up with this routine it’s always been a dream of mine to get a 17. It was like a dream come true. It really was weird seeing my name next to the 17 and it made me feel really proud that all the hard work has paid off but, at the same time, there is still a lot I can improve upon in that routine and hopefully I’ll score even higher.
Q: (incredulously) A LOT you can improve on?
A: (laughs) Well, not a lot, but a few skills, and certainly my dismount.
You know, you kind of have to pace yourself through the summer, with Nationals being the first step. I’m not quite a 100 percent where I want to be in August, right now. My dismount is still a little harder for me. I’m hoping that, through more weeks of preparation, and through Trials and the Games, it will be easier. That way I can avoid those extra tenths [in deductions].
Q: What is your strategy on floor and vault, your weaker events?
A: On floor and vault it’s a lot about technique for me, especially on floor where, like [here,] it’s a little bit harder [surface]. You can’t miss any of those little corrections my dad always tells me before I go.
The same for vault; you have to run hard but, at the same time, you can’t JUST go hard and expect to make it.
For me, I’m a very technical gymnast and I’m not as powerful as some of the other girls where they can still pull it off if their technique is a little bit not as a good. For me, it really is all about technique.
Q: What happened tonight on floor?
A: I think I just put a little bit too much power into it. I wasn’t expecting to … flip that fast, so I just (shrugs). You know, I did the same thing in warm-ups, so it was just kind of a weird thing. I guess I have to trust myself more on the landing.
That was definitely hard, just having a fall on your first event, first day. It feels like you want to be down but, at the same time, you have to block out all those emotions. You can’t let it get to you. You have to keep going. That’s kind of what I did.
I went over to vault and I stuck my vault, so I was really happy about that. And you move over to bars and got a 17, and finished on beam. It wasn’t my best routine—I didn’t feel dead on—so I’m hoping to improve that and, hopefully, do better on Saturday.
Q: Did it help mitigate the mistake on floor, knowing you still had your two strongest events—bars and beam—to close with?
A: It did, kinda’, but, at the same time, it kind of made me MORE nervous, especially already having a fall. I knew I had to make those routines good. But I felt really confident because my training was going well on both bars and beam.
I just take one event at a time. After floor I was pretty upset, but I was like, ‘You know what, forget about it. You can’t change it now, so move on to the next event and only focus on that.’
Q: At Trials the top two all-arounders will earn automatic Olympic berths. Is that something you’re striving for?
A: I do think about that but, at the same time, it isn’t something you should be thinking about too much, because you go out there and do your job. At the end of the day, when you go to that final selection camp you’re still not 100 percent guaranteed your spot. You always have to prove your readiness. And that’s how it should be.
I guess it would be a sigh of relief if you get that top two at the Trials, but [then] you have to work even harder to maintain being in the top two.
Q: Shawn Johnson is the reigning World Champ and you’re quite close to her in the standings right now, even with the fall on floor. Does your world standing cross your mind at all?
A: You know, it makes me more confident knowing that, with a fall and going out of bounds—the whole floor routine definitely was not my best—knowing that I am still pretty close up there. Even though I’m not 100 percent ready right now, it kind of makes me feel a little bit more confident.
Q: Four years ago you were at this meet as the junior champ and the wait until the 2008 Olympics felt like forever. Now, you’re just two months away. What’s that like?
A: Honestly, it’s just crazy to even think about that.
Exactly four years ago, winning junior nationals, watching Carly (Patterson) win seniors and then watching her go on to win the Olympics—everyone was always telling me, ‘In four years it will be your turn.’ And I was just like, ‘OK, whatever. I’m not really thinking about that.’ It seemed like a lifetime away and now it’s here. Time really has gone by so fast.
I guess when you think about it, especially on a daily basis, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, when is this going to come?’ It just seems like it’s taking forever, but when you sit down and really think about it, in the four years that have gone, it’s really flown by.
- Quick Chat with Nastia Liukin (June 17, 2008)
Nastia Liukin dishes about Championships, Trials and what she's looking forward to, besides Beijing
