North Texas gymnast to be inducted into U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame
North Texas gold medal-winning gymnast Nastia Liukin will be inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame.
Liukin is one of 13 members of the 2019 class, which will be honored at an awards dinner on Nov. 1 at the Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Spring, Colo.
She was the 2008 Olympic all-around champion and a five-time Olympic medalist and a four-time all-around U.S. national champion, winning twice as a junior and twice as a senior. Liukin is tied with Shannon Miller for the third-most world championship medals by U.S. gymnasts. She also is tied with Miller and Simone Biles with the most medals in a single non-boycotted Olympics.
She retired in 2012.
The 2019 Hall of Fame class includes Candace Cable (Para alpine skiing, Para Nordic skiing, Para track and field), Lisa Leslie (basketball), Misty May-Treanor (beach volleyball), Apolo Anton Ohno (short track speedskating), Erin Popovich (Para swimming), Dara Torres (swimming), Chris Waddell (Para alpine skiing, Para track and field), the 1998 U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team, John Carlos (legend: track and field), Tommie Smith (legend: track and field), Ron O’Brien (coach: diving) and Tim Nugent (special contributor).
Liukin is the daughter of two former Russian champion gymnast. Her family immigrated to the U.S. in 1991 and eventually settled in Parker, north of Dallas. She briefly attended SMU before her gymnastics career forced her to withdraw in 2008 and again in 2009.
This story was originally published September 23, 2019 at 2:26 PM.
