Valeri Viktorovich Liukin (russian: Валерий Викторович Люкин; born 17 December 1966 in

Aktyubinsk Aktobe ( kz, Ақтөбе, Aqtöbe; russian: Актобе, Aktobe) is a city on the Ilek River in Kazakhstan. It is the administrative center of Aktobe Region. In 2020, it had a population of 500,757 people. Aktobe is located in the west of Ka ...

Kazakh SSR ; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы) *1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы) , linking_name = the ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

) is a Soviet-born Russian-American retired

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

turned gymnastics coach. As a competitor for the former Soviet Union, Liukin was the 1988 Olympic champion in the team competition and individually on the

horizontal bar The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syste ...

, 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 The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syste ...

. 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 Anna Kotchneva (russian: Анна Кочнева) (born January 25, 1970) is a former Soviet rhythmic gymnast. Career Kotchneva is the 1987 World Champion in clubs, (tied with Bianka Panova), the 1987 World bronze medalist in the hoop, and ...

, and is the father and coach of 2008 Olympic champion

Nastia Liukin Anastasia "Nastia" Liukin (; russian: Анастасия Валерьевна Люкина ; born October 30, 1989) is a Russian-born American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic All-Around champion, a five-time Olympic medalist, ...

. He is co-owner of the

World Olympic Gymnastics Academy The World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) is a two-facility gymnastics club located in Frisco and Plano. The head coaches at WOGA are former USA Gymnastics women's national team coordinator Valeri Liukin, who was a Soviet medalist at the 1 ...

with longtime friend Yevgeny Marchenko. On 15 December 2015, it was announced that Liukin had been inducted as a part of the 2016 class of the

USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and traini ...

Hall of Fame. From 16 September 2016 to 2 February 2018, he was the coordinator for the

United States women's national gymnastics team The United States women's national artistic gymnastics team represents the United States in FIG international competitions. Currently, the U.S. team is the reigning World team champion and the reigning Olympic team silver medalists, with the four ...

, replacing

Márta Károlyi Márta Károlyi (; ; born August 29, 1942) is a Hungarian-American gymnastics coach and the former national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics. She and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania, Romania, who trained athletes ...

. He coached the Brazilian women's gymnastics team as of 2018.

Career

Junior

Liukin began gymnastics when he was 7 years old. He moved to Moscow to join the Soviet Junior National team, where he made his world debut at the 1985 Friendship Cup. Coached by Eduard Yarov, Liukin was a member of the Soviet Union National Team until the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Senior

At the 1987 European Championships in Moscow, he won gold medals in the all-around, on the

, and in the floor exercise where he was the first gymnast to perform a triple back somersault. He won the silver medal on the still rings and the bronze on the vault. At the 1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, he won the team competition with the Soviet Union. At the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, South Korea, Liukin won the gold medal in the team competition, and was the co-champion on the horizontal bar with fellow Soviet gymnast Vladimir Artemov. Liukin won the silver medal in the all-around and on the parallel bars. At the 1991 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, he again was a member of the champion Soviet team in the Team competition. He won the bronze medal in the All-Around. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Liukin competed for his native

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, most notably at the

1993 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 1993 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Birmingham,Great Britain. There was no team competition at this meet; gymnasts competed in the all-around and event finals only. The opening ceremony took place on 12 April at the Na ...

and the 1994 Asian Games, but did not win a medal at either competition.

Coaching

Liukin coached USA's second consecutive all around Olympic champion, his daughter,

, to the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. In addition, Nastia contributed to team USA's silver medal finish in the team competition. She also earned silver on uneven bars, silver on balance beam, and bronze in the floor exercise. Notable gymnasts trained by Liukin include 2010 National Champion and 6-time world medalist

Rebecca Bross Rebecca Marie Bross (born July 11, 1993) is an American former artistic gymnast and six-time World Championship medalist. Personal life Rebecca Marie Bross is the daughter of Terry Bross and Donna Bross. She has one older brother named Benjami ...

as well as 2011 junior National champion and 2013 American Cup champion

Katelyn Ohashi Katelyn Michelle Ohashi (born April 12, 1997) is an American former artistic gymnast who competed for the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a six-time All-American and was a four-time member of USA Gymnastics' Junior National Team, t ...

. Bross placed second in the all-around competition at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in London 2009 and teammate

Ivana Hong Ivana Hong (born December 11, 1992 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal American team at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the all-around bronze medalist at t ...

placed third in the beam competition. However, Rebecca Bross and Nastia Liukin both failed to qualify for the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Olympic team. This resulted in Liukin's retirement from international and senior competition. Ohashi was too young to meet the eligibility criteria to compete in the Olympics. Bross's current gymnastics career status is "undecided", though she remains a coach at her old gym. Liukin was the International Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2004. He was inducted into the

International Gymnastics Hall of Fame The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics. The early IGHO ...

in 2005. On 16 September 2016, he was named the coordinator for the

, replacing the retiring

. On February 2, 2018, Liukin resigned from this role amid the

USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal relates to the sexual abuse of gymnasts—primarily minors at the time of the abuse—over two decades in the United States, starting in the 1990s. More than 368 people alleged that they were sexually assault ...

Controversies

Racial comments

In a 2019 interview, Liukin made the following comments about black gymnasts: "But yes, gymnastics is changing. In the Code of Points, difficulty is very valued now. Of course, this suits African Americans. They’re very explosive – look at the NBA, who’s playing and jumping there?"

Weight shaming

Several gymnasts trained by Liukin, including Megan Marenghi,

, and

Vanessa Atler Vanessa Marie Atler (born February 17, 1982) is an American former elite gymnast. She is the 1997 U.S. national all-around champion, the 1998 Goodwill Games gold medalist on the floor exercise and vault, and a four-time national champion in the i ...

, have come forward and accused Liukin of repeatedly shaming them about their weight even as young adolescents, leading several of them to develop

eating disorder An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. Only one eating disorder can be diagnosed at a given time. Types of eating disorders include binge eating d ...

s and depression.

SafeSport investigation

In 2022, Liukin was to head Team USA at an international competition in Germany while under investigation by the

United States Center for SafeSport The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2017 under the auspices of the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. SafeSport is tasked with ad ...

for allegedly verbally and psychologically abusing athletes and pressuring them to train or compete with broken bones or while ill, some when they were as young as 10 years old.

Personal life

He married

, a 1987 World Champion

rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and co ...

, while still competing himself. Their daughter,

, was born in Moscow in 1989. In 1992, Liukin moved to the United States and began a coaching career. Liukin originally settled in New Orleans, but later moved to

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Hist ...

. Liukin owns and runs three World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) locations with business partner Yevgeny Marchenko. He had a small cameo in the film ''

Stick It Stick or the stick may refer to: Thin elongated objects * Twig * The weapon used in stick fighting * Walking stick, a device to facilitate balancing while walking * Shepherd's crook * Swagger stick * Digging stick * Swizzle stick, used to stir ...

'' as the spotter in his daughter's uneven bars routine.

References

External links

World Olympic Gymnastics Academy Homepage

*
Valeri Liukin Video Interviews on Gymnastike.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liukin, Valeri 1966 births Living people Gymnasts at the 1988 Summer Olympics Russian emigrants to the United States Kazakhstani male artistic gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic gymnasts of the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in gymnastics Valeri Kazakhstani people of Russian descent People from Parker, Texas American people of Kazakhstani descent Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Soviet male artistic gymnasts People from Aktobe Gymnasts at the 1994 Asian Games Gymnastics in Texas World Olympic Gymnastics Academy Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics People with acquired American citizenship Asian Games competitors for Kazakhstan Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics European champions in gymnastics