The Islamic Republic News Agency (Persian: خبرگزاری جمهوری اسلامی ایران‎), or IRNA, is the official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is government-funded and controlled under the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. The agency also publishes the newspaper Iran. As of 2010^[update], the Managing Director of IRNA is Ali Akbar Javanfekr. IRNA has 60 offices in Iran and 30 more in various countries around the world.^[1]

History[link]

In 1934, Pars Agency was established by the Foreign Ministry of Iran (Persia) as the country's official national news outlet. For the next six years it operated under the Iranian Foreign Ministry working to disseminate national and international news. Pars Agency published a bulletin twice daily in French and Persian, which it circulated among government officials, international news agencies in Tehran and the local press. In May 1940, the General Tablighat Department was founded and the agency then became an affiliate of the department. Agence France Press (AFP) was the first international news agency whose reports Pars Agency used. Gradually, the Iranian news agency expanded its sources of news stories to include those of Reuters, the Associated Press (AP) and the United Press International (UPI). An agreement with the Anatolia News Agency of Turkey further expanded the agency's news outlets to countries worldwide. The link-up also enabled it to provide classified bulletins to a limited number of high-ranking public officials.

In 1954, following a coup the reforms of the White Revolution helped to modernize the Pars Agency, leading to expanded news coverage, improved professional services and a better-educated staff. It went on air with radio broadcasts of international news translated into Persian, which it offered to local subscribers. Under the new regime, it operated under the supervision of various state offices and ministries such as the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephones, Office of the Prime Minister and the Labor Ministry until 1947. In 1957, the General Department of Tablighat fell under the supervision of the Publications Department of Tehran Radio as an independent department. In 1963 the activities of Pars Agency were brought under the newly created Information Ministry. Its name was changed to `Pars News Agency, or PANA, and it began operating around the clock. In July 1975 the Iranian legislature passed a bill establishing the Ministry of Information and Tourism and changing the status of Pars News Agency to a joint public stock with capital assets of about 300 million rials. It then became an affiliate of the new ministry. Its Articles of Association in 23 paragraphs and notes were adopted by the then National Consultative Assembly of Iran.

After the Iranian Revolution in February 1979, the Revolutionary Council (Shawra-ye-Enqelab), in June 1979, renamed the Ministry of Information and Tourism to the National Guidance Ministry (or Ministry of National Guidance). This was followed in December, 1981 by a bill passed by the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis) changing the name of the country's official news agency from Pars News Agency to Islamic Republic News Agency.

Official guidelines[link]

IRNA's professional activities are aimed at securing Iranian national interests. Efforts of management and professional personnel of IRNA are thus focused on achieving higher ground each day in fulfillment of its stated goal. The organization functions as the "mother source of information dissemination" within the country, feeding its authorities, nationals and various publications with various types of news, bulletins, research works, opinion polls and stories of general interest through its various telex lines. It also provides channels for online foreign dispatches and photographs around the clock. IRNA's external services include those rendered to leading international news agencies in accordance with contracts signed with them, active membership in international news clubs, up-to-date news stories on the country supplied internationally through its International News Line, and an active presence in the Internet through its Persian, English and Arabic websites. For its services, IRNA is aided by a professional core of executive and administrative staff who work inside and outside the country in its various local, regional and overseas branches. It also takes full advantage of stringers around the globe and has an organizational set-up that allows all its facilities to be used inside or outside the country on contractual arrangement. To effectively carry out its responsibilities it has set up the following guidelines:

• Mass production and dissemination of news and informative material taking into account its main objective of promoting the interests and objectives of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
• Promotion of the Islamic culture as far as possible and encountering the cultural onslaught of enemies of the Islamic Revolution.
• Expansion of activities conducive to the acquisition and dissemination of more news items inside and outside the country.
• Dissemination of news stories of the Islamic world in general.
• Providing news items to Iranian newspapers and periodicals.
• Laying the ground for a wholesome competition with major international news agencies and corporations.
• Providing news and propaganda through as vast a network as possible.
• Expansion of its propaganda dissemination network as far and wide as is possible.
• Expansion and strengthening of professional level bilateral and multilateral cooperation with various countries' news agencies and active cooperation in the formation and strengthening of joint regional and international networks.
• Providing news dissemination and news research assistance outside its organizational boundaries when its professional assistance is sought and when they prove to be in the country's geopolitical and national interests.

IRNA external services[link]

IRNA's administrative efforts are focused on an expansion of its international news branches around the globe. Branches ostensibly are given the task of producing news items or selecting from those produced by various news agencies, translating and disseminating them through its various news lines. Its management is also constantly on the look-out for possible new ways of expanding its level of news dissemination in qualitative and quantitative terms. It also seeks to expand its level of cooperation with various foreign news agencies and corporations. Personnel of IRNA branches abroad are currently in charge of monitoring their respective countries' radio, television, satellite and Internet networks to bring out news items not already found in news dispatches. The offices also organize regional news dissemination corporationswith IRNA as a member, as well as monitor and program activities of its branches.

IRNA News Desks[link]

IRNA's editorial board is made up of eight main news desks, to wit:

• Europe and America Desk
• Africa and Middle East Desk
• Asia-Pacific Desk
• Indian Peninsula and Central Asia Desk
• English News Desk: This desk is in charge of sending the most important news gathered from IRNA's various lines, as well as those items acquired through various IRNA cooperation contracts with various news agencies.
• Arabic News Desk: The activities of this desk is similar with the English News Desk.
• Persian Language International News Desk: Staff of this desk are assigned the task of surveying news items dispatched from various IRNA news lines in the country and selecting those most likely to interest foreign readers. These are then rewritten as new items with information that are not included as being of no general importance to Iranian readers inside the country added and those that need revision altered.
• Foreign News Desk: This desk comprises three monitoring desks in charge of surveying the various foreign radio, television, satellite, Internet and printed media items and selecting the news items that IRNA is interested in. This organization works on a 24-hourbasis and records programs of 23 radio and 13 satellite stations on video or magnetic tapes.

IRNA news regions[link]

IRNA has divided its activities into four news regions around the world manned by four head offices. These are:

• Middle East and Africa Region - The head office is based in Beirut, Lebanon. It has branch offices in Ankara, Damascus, Abu Dhabi, Amman and Kuwait. All six offices cover news stories in the entire Middle East and Africa region.

• Europe and America Region - The head office is based in London, England. It has branch offices in Bonn, Vienna, Paris, Rome, Sarajevo, Athens, Madrid, New York and Washington. All 10 offices cover news items pertaining to Europe and the North, Central and South American continents.

• Asia-Pacific Region - The head office of this region is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It has branch offices in Tokyo, Beijing, Islamabad, Alma Ata, Dushanbe and Ashkhabad. All seven offices cover news stories from Asia and the Oceania region.

Cooperation With Foreign and Regional News Agencies[link]

IRNA cooperates with leading international and regional news agencies. This cooperation at the professional level started decades ago. IRNA cooperation with regional and international agencies take any of the following forms:

• Exclusive agency contracts - Certain international news sources cooperate exclusively with IRNA in news dissemination service within Iranian territory. This implies that access to news items and pictorial telex services of other news sources is possible only through IRNA's news dissemination telex lines. News stories referred to include those of Reuters, AP, AFP, UPI and the DPA (of Germany).
• Bilateral cooperation contracts - IRNA has signed contracts for the exchange of photographs and news items with a number of regional new agencies. This may be taken as an unprecedented move since before the victory of the Islamic Revolution the Pars News Agency (IRNA's name before the revolution) merely cooperated with Western news agencies. The news agencies of Qatar (QNA), Serbia (TANJUG), China (Xinhua), Japan (Kyodo), Turkey (Ikhlas), North Korea (KCNA), Saudi Arabia (SANA), Spain (EFE), Vietnam (VNA), Turkmenistan (Turkmen Press), Russia (Itar-Tass and Ria-Novesti), Morocco (MAP), Nigeria (NAM), and South Korea (YONHAP) have signed bilateral cooperation contracts regarding exchange of news and pictures with IRNA.
• Contracts for sales of pictures and news items - IRNA has signed cataracts for the sale of its news photos and information to major international news agencies. These include Reuters, AP, DPA, BBC and Bloomberg as well as the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA).

Membership in International News Clubs and Organizations[link]

IRNA has spent tremendous efforts to convince news agencies of Third World countries to actively work within the framework of regional news agencies. The establishment of pools of news agencies, many of which have already gained international prestige, is thus indebted to the pioneering efforts of IRNA. Multinational and regional news pools therefore have the right to vote in international gatherings of news agencies and thus play the essential and critical role of safeguarding Third World interests in such venues. IRNA is currently a member of the following news pools:

• Association of Caspian Sea News Agencies (ACSNA)
• ECO News Agencies (ECONA)
• International Islamic News Agency (IINA)
• Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool (NANAP)
• Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA)
• OPEC News Agency (OPECNA)

IRNA's Recognized Achievements Within Regional News Pools[link]

IRNA has played an active role as a member of the newly established regional news pools mentioned above. Its varied activities in cooperation with these various organizations may be summarized as follows:

• Providing vast coverage for news stories from the Islamic World as well as the Third World and Central Asian countries. IRNA has also expanded its national news dissemination ties with Islamic countries to an unprecedented level, i.e., between any Islamic country and that of other members of the Islamic world.
• Active participation in professional, international news conferences, congresses and seminars, including visits to headquarters of news agencies of various countries and international news agencies by professionaldelegations.
• Signing of bilateral and multilateral contracts for cooperation with news agencies of over 70 countries in the exchange of news, with special emphasis on its neighbors, Islamic countries and the Islamic Republic's political allies.
• Strengthening of the foundations of the NAM Secretariat, as well as acceptance of permanent chairmanship of the NANAP.
• Establishment of the Association of Caspian Sea (littoral states) News Agencies (ACSNA) and hosting its first gathering and initial chairmanship.
• Active cooperation in the establishment and rotative chairmanship of the Economic Cooperation Organization's news agencies (ECONA).
• Acceptance of the chairmanship of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) until the year 2000.

IRNA Joins the Web[link]

IRNA is one of the first to join the Internet in Iran. It joined the web on December 16, 1996, starting at the speed of 19,200 kbit/s. On March 23, 1997, IRNA opened its own website, which reached the power of 512,512 kbit/s a year later. Due to interest shown on the wide range of information available in the Internet IRNA decided to offer lines for lease and dial-up services for its clients. IRNA has also increased the width of its satellite band up to 2MEG/2MEG to meet the ever-increasing demand of this medium. ^[2] To provide services to all interested parties wishing to gain access to Internet information, IRNA has established an Internet cafe (Coffeenet) on the ground floor of its Tehran headquarters.

IRNANET[link]

Information on the high-quality goods and services available in the Iranian market produced by leading producers and manufacturers in the various production and technical fields may now be obtained through IRNA's online IRNANET. IRNANET accepts advertisements and aims to be an effective global marketing tool for interested subscribers. The IRNA website in the Internet^[3] has over 20,000,000 viewers all over the globe with the exact number of people who use it in each country available at any moment on the site.

Photo Archives[link]

IRNA has a photo archives established 40 years ago simultaneous with the birth of this news agency. It is one of the richest in Iran and relies on the expert work of its professional photographers. The photo archives now has over 3,000,000 frames in the various political, social, sports and cultural fields. Some of the best shots in its files depict the acts of bravery of Iranians during the eight-year sacred defense.

IRNA Newspapers and Periodicals[link]

IRNA currently publishes seven dailies and periodicals. Among these periodicals is the Persian-language Iran newspaper, which is vastly popular among middle class Iranians.

• Al-Vefaq is one of two Arabic-language dailies.
• Iran Daily is the country's third English newspaper.
• Iran Varzeshi is an Iranian daily specializing on local and foreign sports news coverage.
• Iran Javan has gained unprecedented popularity among the youth.
• Iran-e Saal provides a yearly report of the country's most outstanding events.
• Iran Sepid, the only one of its kind in the Middle East, is published in the Braille language for visually impaired Iranians.
• Iran Azin is IRNA's monthly on interior design.

School of Media Studies (an IRNA affiliate)[link]

After conducting a series of research work on the country's need for a high-level academic institution to provide training in news reporting and various fields of news dissemination, and after obtaining a permit from the Ministry of Sciences, Research and Technology, IRNA established the School of Media Studies (News College). Studies in the School of Media Studies offer two sections: long-term or short-term courses.

Courses[link]

These courses lead to a university degree major in any one of the four now offered by the college:

• News reporting at the level of Bachelor of Arts (BA)
• News translation (English) at BA level
• Photojournalism at the level of Associate in Arts
• News translation (Arabic) at the BA level
• Short-term courses - Specialized training in various fields such as editing, journalism, feature writing, photojournalism and reporting as well as various computer courses may be pursued in this section.

See also[link]

	Iran portal
	Media portal
	Television portal

• List of Iranian news agencies
• Media of Iran
• Pars
• Mahmoud Saremi

External links[link]

• Official website

References[link]

Nastia Liukin
Liukin in 2009.
Personal information
Full name	Anastasia Valeryevna Liukin
Nickname(s)	Nastia, Nastie
Country represented	United States
Born	(1989-10-30) October 30, 1989 (age 22) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Moscow, Russian Federation)
Hometown	Parker, Texas, United States
Height	5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)
Weight	99 lb (45 kg)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Years on national team	(2002–present)
Gym	World Olympic Gymnastics Academy
Head coach(es)	Valeri Liukin
Assistant coach(es)	Natalya Marakova
Former coach(es)	Anna Liukin Joe Drake
Choreographer	Natalya Marakova
Music	"Variations on Dark Eyes" by Lara St. John
Medal record Women's gymnastics Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing All-around Silver 2008 Beijing Team Silver 2008 Beijing Uneven bars Silver 2008 Beijing Balance beam Bronze 2008 Beijing Floor World Championships Gold 2005 Melbourne Uneven bars Gold 2005 Melbourne Beam Gold 2007 Stuttgart Team Gold 2007 Stuttgart Beam Silver 2005 Melbourne All-around Silver 2005 Melbourne Floor Silver 2006 Aarhus Team Silver 2006 Aarhus Uneven bars Silver 2007 Stuttgart Uneven bars Pan American Games Gold 2003 Santo Domingo Team Gold 2003 Santo Domingo Beam Gold 2007 Rio de Janeiro Team Silver 2003 Santo Domingo All-around Silver 2007 Rio de Janeiro Uneven bars Silver 2007 Rio de Janeiro Beam Bronze 2003 Santo Domingo Uneven bars Bronze 2003 Santo Domingo Floor Pacific Rim Championships Gold 2006 Honolulu Team Gold 2006 Honolulu All-around Gold 2006 Honolulu Uneven bars Gold 2008 San Jose Team Gold 2008 San Jose All-around Gold 2008 San Jose Beam Silver 2006 Honolulu Beam Silver 2008 San Jose Uneven bars

Anastasia Valeryevna "Nastia" Liukin (Russian: Анастасия "Настя" Валерьевна Люкина; born October 30, 1989) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic individual all-around Champion, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World Champion on the uneven bars. With nine World Championships medals, seven of them individual, Liukin is tied with Shannon Miller for the second-highest tally of World Championship medals; Alicia Sacramone has ten.^[1][2] Liukin has also tied Miller's record as the American gymnast having won the most medals in a single non-boycotted Olympic Games.^[3]

The daughter of two former Soviet champion gymnasts, Olympic gold medalist Valeri Liukin – the first man to do a triple backflip – and World Champion rhythmic gymnast Anna Kotchneva, Nastia Liukin was born in Moscow and moved to the United States as a young child. She began gymnastics after spending time in the gym while her parents coached. Liukin is coached by her father at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, her family's gymnastics club in Plano, Texas.

Liukin became a member of the U.S. junior national team when she was 12 years old and won the National all-around title at the age of 13. She was the all-around silver medalist at the 2003 Pan American Games. Since 2005, Liukin has been a key member of the U.S. senior team. She is a four-time all-around U.S. National Champion, winning twice as a junior and twice as a senior. She has been the U.S. senior National Champion on the uneven bars since 2005. Liukin has represented the United States at three World Championships, the 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games, and the 2006 and 2008 Pacific Rim Championships. In October 2011, Liukin announced that she was returning to the sport of gymnastics with the hopes of making the 2012 Olympic team.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Liukin was born on October 30, 1989, in Moscow, Russia SFSR, Soviet Union. She is the only child of two former Soviet champion gymnasts: 1988 Summer Olympics gold medalist Valeri Liukin and 1987 World Clubs Champion in rhythmic gymnastics Anna Kotchneva.^[5][6] Liukin and her family are members of the Russian Orthodox church.^[7] Her nickname Nastia is a Russian diminutive for Anastasia. The family moved to the United States when Nastia Liukin was two and a half years old, after the breakup of the Soviet Union,^[8] and settled first in New Orleans before moving to Texas.^[9] In 1994, Valeri Liukin teamed with another former Soviet champion athlete, Evgeny Marchenko, to open the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Plano.^[5][10]

Liukin is fluent in English and Russian.^[5][11] She graduated from Spring Creek Academy, located in Plano, Texas, in the spring of 2007.^[12] She had enrolled as a freshman international business major at Southern Methodist University in January 2008, but took a leave from classes to concentrate on preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games. She returned to campus in Spring 2009, but her travel schedule and professional commitments caused her to withdraw before the end of the semester. Nastia's signature color is pink, hence her pink leotard worn during the 2008 Beijing Olympics All-Around competition.^[13][14]

Liukin currently updates a blog on her official website and regularly posts on Twitter as @NastiaLiukin. She has a line of GK Gymnastics Leotards and grips and a line of pink gymnastics equipment from AAI.

It is rumored that Nastia Liukin was in a relationship with American figure skater Evan Lysacek. People Magazine claimed to confirm their relationship in a February 2010 article,^[15] but Lysacek denied the rumors in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, stating that the two are just "very close friends."^[16]

Junior career[link]

Liukin began gymnastics at the age of three because she was "always hanging around in the gym"^[17] with her parents, who could not afford a babysitter to look after her while they were working as coaches. 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.^[5][11][18]

Liukin competed in her first National Championships as a junior in 2002, at the age of 12½. In contrast to her WOGA teammates Carly Patterson and Hollie Vise who finished first and second respectively, Liukin suffered a fall on the uneven bars which rendered her unable to finish the routine. 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.^[8][19] She was chosen to compete with the U.S. team at the 2002 Junior Pan American Championships, where she contributed to the team gold medal and placed second on the uneven bars, balance beam and all-around.^[17]

By 2003, Liukin was one of the strongest junior gymnasts in the United States. 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. She repeated these accomplishments in 2004. Liukin was a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the 2003 Pan Am Games; she took second place in the all-around behind fellow American Chellsie Memmel. She also won the all-around in the junior division of the 2004 Pacific Alliance Championships.^[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. Her scores in the junior division at the 2004 U.S. National Championships were competitive with those being posted by the seniors, and Marta Karolyi, U.S. National Team Coordinator, has said that if Liukin had been eligible, she would have been named to the Olympic team.^[5][21]

Senior career[link]

2005–2006[link]

In 2005, Liukin won her first senior National Championships and, once again, earned gold medals on the bars and beam. At the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne she finished second in the AA behind teammate Chellsie Memmel with a score of 37.822.

In event finals she won the gold on the uneven bars and balance beam, and the silver on the floor exercise.^[22][23]

In March 2006, Liukin placed first in the all-around at the American Cup.^[24] 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.^[25] 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. However, she scored extremely well on the balance beam, and was the only competitor in the meet, junior or senior, to earn a score over 16.00 on this event.^[26]

In late August, at the 2006 U.S. National Championships, Liukin successfully defended her all-around, beam and bars titles, becoming a two-time senior National Champion.^[17] 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. However, due to an ankle injury sustained in training before the competition began, she was only able to compete on one event, the uneven bars. In spite of her injury, in the qualification round, Liukin's bars set earned a 16.2, the highest score of any competitor on any apparatus in the meet. Her bars routine in team finals scored a 15.7 and helped the U.S. team win the silver medal. Liukin also qualified for the event finals on bars, where she took a small step on her dismount and finished with a 16.05, earning a silver medal behind Britain's Beth Tweddle.^[27]

2007[link]

Liukin's ankle injury required surgery, and the recovery period kept her out of both national and international competition for much of the year. 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. She competed only on bars and beam, contributing to the team's gold medal finish and winning an individual silver medal in the uneven bars finals and an individual silver medal on the balance beam final.^[13][28]

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. She posted the highest score of the entire meet on bars and the second highest score on beam on the second day of competition, winning the senior bars title for the third year in a row and placing second on beam. However, she also suffered several falls and errors on floor and vault, and finished in third place overall, more than five points behind Shawn Johnson, the all-around gold medalist.^[29][30][31]

Following Nationals, Liukin was named to the American team for the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, competing all-around in the team qualifying round and in on bars and beam in the finals. Liukin's score for her bars routine in team finals was a 16.375, the highest score of the day and, in the end, the entire World Championships. However, at the end of her beam routine, her foot slipped while she was setting up her dismount, prompting her to change her usual skill, a two and a half twisting salto, to a simple back tuck. While she lost credit for her dismount, she also avoided a deduction for a fall, and earned a 15.175. The team recovered from this and other mistakes to finish first overall with 184.400, nearly a point ahead of the silver medal Chinese.^[31][32]

Liukin's struggles with the balance beam continued in the all-around final, where she fell from the apparatus during her flight series. In spite of a 16.100 on bars, the highest score of the day from any competitor on any event, she finished the competition in fifth place. In the event finals, however, Liukin rallied and regained her World Champion title on the balance beam with a score of 16.025.^[30][33] She also earned a silver on the uneven bars, scoring a 16.300 after taking a step on her dismount.^[34]

2008[link]

Liukin in competition

Liukin performs on the balance beam at the 2008 U.S. National Championships.

Liukin performing on the balance beam at the 2008 Olympics.

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. She posted the highest score of the meet, a 16.600 on the uneven bars.^[35] In March, Liukin competed at the Pacific Rim (formerly Pacific Alliance) Championships in San Jose, where she led the American team to a gold medal and won the all-around and balance beam titles. 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 floor on her double front tuck the first day of competition, but had a strong meet on her other events and placed second in the all-around behind Shawn Johnson. She regained her National Champion title on the beam and defended her national title on the uneven bars for the fourth consecutive year, scoring a 17.050 in preliminaries and a 17.100 in finals, the highest recorded score for any American gymnast at any event since the advent of the new Code of Points.^[38] In June, Liukin competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Philadelphia, finishing second behind Johnson, and earning a berth on the American team for Beijing.^[39]

2008 Olympics[link]

Liukin performed all-around in the qualifying round of competition. She qualified to the all-around final with a score of 62.375, which ranked her second among all competitors and 0.35 points behind Shawn Johnson, her friend and Olympic roommate.^[40] Liukin also qualified to three event finals: beam, uneven bars and floor exercise; more than any other American competitor.^[41]

In the team finals, Liukin performed on three events: beam, bars and floor exercise. Her uneven bars score of 16.900 was the highest mark awarded in the entire Olympic competition.^[42] Liukin performed second on balance beam, matching her qualifying score of 15.975.^[43][44] On floor exercise, she stepped out of bounds on her first tumbling pass, incurring a 0.10 point penalty, with a final score of 15.200.^[44][45] The American team earned the silver medal, 2.375 points behind China.

On August 15, Liukin performed clean routines on all four events (sticking her landings on 3 out of 4 events) to win the all-around gold medal with a final score of 63.325.^[46][47][48] Shawn Johnson took the silver medal with a score of 62.725. The win marked the third time that an American woman had won the Olympic all-around title; Mary Lou Retton and Carly Patterson were the two previous American gold medalists. It was also the fourth time in the history of the Games that two athletes from the same country have taken first and second place in the women's all-around. The last time this was accomplished was the 2000 Olympics, when Romanian gymnasts won gold and silver; Soviet gymnasts also won gold and silver all-around medals at the 1952 and 1960 Games.^[49]

In the event finals, Liukin displayed a beautiful routine to earn a surprising bronze medal on floor exercise with the score of 15.425, behind teammate Shawn Johnson with 15.500, and Romanian Sandra Izbasa with 15.650.^[50] 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 won the gold medal, and Liukin was awarded the silver, after a tie-breaking calculation that took into account individual marks given by judges on the B-panel.^[51][52] In the balance beam final, Liukin scored 16.025 to claim silver behind Shawn Johnson's 16.225.^[53] With her fifth Beijing medal, Liukin tied Mary Lou Retton and Shannon Miller for the most gymnastics medals won by an American in a single Olympic Games.^[3][54]

Nastia Liukin in 2009

Following her success in Beijing, Liukin was named the USOC Female Athlete of the Month (August) and ultimately USOC Co-Sportswoman of the Year alongside swimmer Natalie Coughlin, the Women's Sports Foundation Individual Sportswoman of the Year, FIG Athlete of the Year and USAG Sportswoman of the Year. In addition she was ranked third in the Associated Press' 2008 Female Athlete of the Year voting.

In March 2009 Liukin was announced as one of 12 semifinalists for the AAU Sullivan Award. The annual award honors the athlete who best represents "the qualities of leadership, character, sportsmanship, and the ideals of amateurism". On April 15, 2009, Liukin's Olympic teammate Shawn Johnson won the AAU Sullivan Award.^[55]

2009[link]

Liukin decided that she was not done with gymnastics and made her first post-Olympics competitive appearance at the CoverGirl Classic, where she competed only on balance beam. She placed 2nd behind teammate Ivana Hong. Liukin thought about competing uneven bars and beam at the U.S. Championships, but decided to once again just perform on beam. She placed 4th and looked on track to possibly make a fourth World Championships team. Liukin was added to the National Team and included in the World Championships selection camp. However, she pulled out of Worlds selection consideration because she felt that she was not quite up to World Championships standards.

2012[link]

On May 26, 2012, Nastia made her return to official competition. She competed in the 2012 Secret US Classic. She worked on Beam, and scored a 14.900.

Routines[link]

As of 2008, Liukin performed the following skills on these apparatuses:

Following the 2008 Olympic Games, Liukin had a skill on beam named after her in the 2005–08 FIG Code of Points. The 'Liukin' was rated as a D and was described as follows: salto forward piked, take off from one leg to one foot landing to scale, hold for two seconds. Changes in the 2009–2012 FIG Code of Points meant that the skill is no longer considered as an appropriate skill.

Floor music[link]

On March 18, 2009, Liukin announced that she is working on a new floor routine.^[56]

• 2006–2008: "Variations on Dark Eyes"^[57]
• 2004–2005: "Second Kill" and "Building the Bullet" by Luis Bacalov
• 2001–2003: "Rondo Capriccioso" by Camille Saint-Saëns

Media appearances[link]

Film and television[link]

Outside of competitive gymnastics, Liukin had cameo roles in the April 2006 Touchstone Pictures film Stick It,^[58][59] a 2008 episode of Gossip Girl^[60] and a quick cameo appearance on the newest Bravo TV show, NYC Prep. She has expressed a desire to become an actress in the future.^[17] Following the Beijing Olympics, Liukin appeared on many talk shows in the United States, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.

She also appeared in the second season of Make It or Break It.

Liukin was on The Tour of Gymnastics Superstars, which was broadcast nationwide on MyNetworkTV.^[61] Tapings of the second show of the tour were included in Frosted Pink with a Twist, which was a television special about women's cancers. The TV special aired on ABC on October 12, 2008,^[62] and featured singers Jesse McCartney, Kenny Loggins, Cyndi Lauper and Carole King.^[63][64]

Liukin is set to guest-star on the CW's Hellcats.^[65]

On the April 16, 2012 episode of The Price Is Right, Liukin appeared as a guest model.

Professional Alliances[link]

Liukin has her own line of gymnastics equipment, which includes mats and balance beams in her signature pink, produced by American Athletic, Inc.^[66][67]

Liukin's corporate sponsors include Visa, AT&T, GK Elite Sportswear and Longines. She appeared in an Adidas commercial with Nadia Comăneci which ran during the 2004 Olympics and a 2008 commercial for Visa Inc. She signed an endorsement deal on March 15, 2010 and appears in commercials for Subway^[68] After the Beijing Olympics, she was signed to be one of two American Olympians featured on Wheaties cereal boxes.

Liukin has expressed interest in the fashion world; she has served as a Longines Sports Ambassador of Elegance since 2006^[21][69][70] and, along with her teammates Shawn Johnson and Alicia Sacramone, was one of the first female athletes ever to be signed as CoverGirl spokesmodels.^[71] She also collaborated with Vanilla Star Jeans to create a junior girls' clothing line and has modeled for Max Azria.^[72] In June 2010, she launched a line of girls' wear called Supergirl by Nastia for department store chain JC Penney.^[73]

In October 2008, Liukin partnered with World Vision to help her home state of Texas to recover from Hurricane Ike.^[74]

Competitive history[link]

See also[link]

• List of multiple Olympic medalists at a single Games

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nastia Liukin

Gymnastics portal

• Official site
• Nastia Liukin at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Nastia Liukin at USA Gymnastics
• Nastia Liukin at the United States Olympic Committee
• Nastia Liukin at the Internet Movie Database
• "Nastia Liukin", on Time’s list of "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch"
• Nastia Liukin talking about her experiences at the 2008 Beijing Games on Gymnastike.org
• "Nastia Liukin: Reflecting on Beijing Part I" – Interview with Gymnastike (Dec 08)
• "Nastia Liukin: Reflecting on Beijing Part 2" – Interview with Gymnastike (Dec 08)
• Nastia Liukin Cup on Universal Sports