[3] Liukin also tied Miller's record (later equaled by Simone Biles) as the American gymnast having won the most medals in a single non-boycotted Olympic Games.

The family emigrated to the United States when Nastia was two and a half years old, following the breakup of the Soviet Union and easing of travel restrictions,[8] and settled first in New Orleans before moving to Texas.

In 1994, Valeri Liukin teamed up with another former Soviet champion athlete, Yevgeny Marchenko, to open the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Plano, Texas.

She enrolled as an international business major at Southern Methodist University in January 2008, and took a leave from classes to concentrate on preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games.

[10] Nastia has been involved with numerous charities and philanthropy over the years including Cards for Hospitalized Kids, breast cancer awareness and more.

Liukin's parents initially did not aspire for their daughter to become a gymnast, knowing the pressure of high-level competition firsthand, but relented when they noticed her aptitude for the sport.

She continued through the rest of the competition and, despite the incomplete bars set, finished 15th, which landed her one of the final spots on the U.S. National Team.

[16] In 2003 she won the junior division of the U.S. National Championships, as well as gold medals on three of the four events: uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.

[17] She was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2003 Pan American Games; she took second place in the all-around behind teammate Chellsie Memmel.

[20] Born in 1989, Liukin was ten months too young to compete as a senior in 2004, and thus was not eligible for a place on the U.S. team for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

[25] At the 2006 Pacific Alliance Championships, Liukin tied with teammate Memmel for first in the all-around, won the uneven bars title and a silver medal on beam, and contributed to the U.S. team's gold-medal performance.

[26] She competed at the 2006 U.S. Classic as the defending all-around champion, but falls on the uneven bars and floor resulted in a fourth-place finish.

[28] She was named to the U.S. team for the 2006 World Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, and was expected by many to be a strong contender for the all-around title.

In July 2007, although she was still recovering from her injury, she returned to competition as a member of the American team for the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro.

[30][31] Despite limited training time on floor and vault in the summer of 2007, Liukin opted to compete all-around at the 2007 U.S. National Championships.

However, she made several falls and errors on floor and vault, finishing in third place overall, more than five points behind Shawn Johnson, the all-around gold medalist.

[34] Liukin's first meet of the 2008 season was the American Cup in New York City, where she defeated 2007 winner Shawn Johnson to regain her title.

In the team competition, Liukin posted an all-time high score of 16.650 on the uneven bars, but in event finals, she fell on her Gienger release move and took a step on her dismount, earning a 15.225 and taking second place.

[36][37] At the 2008 U.S. National Championships in Boston, Liukin fell on the floor on her double front tuck on the first day of competition, but had a strong meet on her other events and placed second in the all-around behind Shawn Johnson.

[38] In June, Liukin competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Philadelphia, finishing second behind Johnson and earning a spot on the American team for Beijing.

From the moment she puts her fingertips onto the beam and presses herself up into the splits, her long legs unfurling like the petals of a flower, every movement is performance art.

In the event finals, Liukin earned a surprising bronze medal on floor exercise with a score of 15.425, behind Shawn Johnson, with 15.500, and Romanian Sandra Izbasa, with 15.650.

[51] On uneven bars, Liukin and China's He Kexin both posted final marks of 16.725 and earned identical A- and B-panel scores of 7.70 and 9.025, respectively.

However, He Kexin was awarded the gold medal, and Liukin got the silver, after a tie-breaking calculation that took into account individual marks given by judges on the B-panel.

[90] Liukin was a Longines Sports Ambassador of Elegance in 2006[91] and, along with her teammates Shawn Johnson and Alicia Sacramone, was one of the first female athletes ever to be signed as CoverGirl spokesmodels.

[93] In June 2010, she launched a line of girls' wear called Supergirl by Nastia for department store chain JC Penney.