Valeri Liukin

Valeri Liukin
Personal information
Full nameValeri Viktorovich Liukin
Former countries represented Kazakhstan
 Soviet Union
Born (1966-12-17) 17 December 1966 (age 57)
Aktyubinsk, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union
ResidenceParker, Texas, U.S.
Height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)[1]
DisciplineMen's Artistic Gymnastics
RetiredOctober 6, 1994
Medal record
Representing  Soviet Union
Men's Artistic Gymnastics
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1988 Seoul Team
Gold medal – first place 1988 Seoul Horizontal bar
Silver medal – second place 1988 Seoul All-around
Silver medal – second place 1988 Seoul Parallel bars
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1987 Rotterdam Team
Gold medal – first place 1991 Indianapolis Team
Bronze medal – third place 1991 Indianapolis All-around
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1987 Moscow All-Around
Gold medal – first place 1987 Moscow Floor
Gold medal – first place 1987 Moscow Parallel bars
Gold medal – first place 1987 Moscow Horizontal bar
Silver medal – second place 1987 Moscow Rings
Bronze medal – third place 1987 Moscow Vault

Valeri Viktorovich Liukin (Russian: Валерий Викторович Люкин; born 17 December 1966 in Aktyubinsk, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union) is a Kazakh-American retired artistic gymnast currently working as a gymnastics coach. Representing the former Soviet Union, Liukin was the 1988 Olympic champion in the team competition and individually on the horizontal bar, and Olympic silver medalist in the all-around and the parallel bars.

Liukin was the first man to do a triple back flip on floor and both a layout Tkatchev and a Jaeger with full twist on high bar.[2] He also has one of the most difficult skills in men's artistic gymnastics named after him, the triple back (tucked) somersault.

Liukin moved to the United States in 1992 and became a U.S. citizen in 2000. He is married to Anna Kotchneva, and is the father and coach of 2008 Olympic champion Nastia Liukin. He is co-owner of the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy with longtime friend Yevgeny Marchenko.

On 15 December 2015, it was announced that Liukin had been inducted as part of the 2016 class into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame.[3]

From 16 September 2016 to 2 February 2018, he was the coordinator for the United States women's national gymnastics team, replacing Márta Károlyi.[4][5][6] He coached the Brazilian women's national gymnastics team as of 2018.[7]

  1. ^ Hairopoulos, Kate (15 August 2008). "Parents' support, coaching and great DNA helped make gymnast Nastia Liukin an Olympian". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
  2. ^ "Valeri Viktorovich Liukin bio". Premier Management Group Sports. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  3. ^ USA Gymnastics announces 2016 USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame Class. usagym.org (15 December 2015)
  4. ^ "USA Gymnastics names Liukin as women's national team coordinator". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  5. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Valery Lyukin". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  6. ^ Craig Bohnert (16 September 2016). "Valeri Liukin Selected To Succeed Martha Karolyi As USA Gymnastics Women's National Team Coordinator". Team USA. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016.
  7. ^ "The names are familiar but the uniforms are different for longtime staples of US program". USA Today.