Valeri Viktorovich Liukin (Russian: born December 17, 1966, Aktyubinsk, Kazakh SSR)) 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 Plano, Texas 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).