Valeri Viktorovich Liukin was born December 17, 1966, Aktyubinsk, Kazakh SSR, and is a world class former gymnast for the Soviet Union. He was a 1988 Olympics gold medalist and the first man to do a triple back flip on floor and both a layout reverse hect and a Jaeger with full twist on high bar. Liukin began gymnastics when he was 7 and moved to Moscow to join the Soviet Junior National team. His rise in the ranks was consistent and his world debut came at the 1985 Friendship Cup.

At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Liukin was the gold medalist in the horizontal bar and the Soviet team won the team competition. In addition to his two golds, Liukin was the silver medalist in the parallel bars and All-Around. He medaled at each of the World Championships between 1987 and 1991 and was a member of the USSR National Team until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Once his gymnastics career was over, he turned to coaching. He was the International Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2004.

Currently, Liukin and his wife Anna (a former World medalist in rhythmic gymnastics) live in Parker, Texas and coach their daughter Nastia, the 2005 and 2006 US National Champion as well as several other elite gymnasts. The gym he owns and coaches at is the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA).

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• US Team Head Coach 2007 Pan Am Games
• US National Team Coach 1998-2007
• USA-Gymnastics Coach of the year 2006
• International Coach of the Year 2002, 2004
• USAG Regiion III Elite Coach of the year 2005
• International Gymnastics hall of fame member 2005
• 1985-1992 Member USSR National Team
• 1988 Seoul Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist
• 1990 Goodwill Games - 5 Gold Medals
• 1987 - 1991 World Championships, Gold and Silver
• Medals - First in the world to perform triple back flip on floor
• Over fifteen years coaching experience
• Coach of many US National Team Members including
  2005 World Champion and two time US National
  Champion Nastia Liukin

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