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INDIANAPOLIS -- Nastia Liukin's mom missed quite a show.
Touted for the last few years as the sport's next big star,
Liukin showed what all the fuss was about Saturday night, rallying
to edge Chellsie Memmel for her first senior title at the U.S.
Gymnastics Championships. After landing her vault safely to wrap up
the win, Liukin's father and coach, Valeri, swept her up in a big
hug. "Being a senior means you're the best in the whole country,"
said Liukin, who won the last two junior titles. "Winning seniors
is definitely a big step up."
Too bad her mom wasn't there to see it.
Liukin's parents were the world's best in their day. Valeri won
two gold medals with the Soviet machine at the 1988 Olympics, and
Anna was the world rhythmic champion in 1987. But doing it is a lot
easier than watching, and Anna can't even bear to be in the
building when her daughter competes.
"She never watches," Valeri Liukin said. "We have to call her
and tell her it's over."
This time, Liukin delivered the news by text-message.
"I said, 'Mom, I won. I love you,"' Liukin said.
She finished with 76.164 points, 0.367 points ahead of Memmel,
and also won the event titles on uneven bars and balance beam.
Memmel, a double gold medalist at the 2003 world championships,
scored 75.797 points. Jana Bieger was third with 74.680.
"We came here, our goal was to be first or second," Memmel's
father and coach, Andy, said. "We were in first, dropped to
second. Nastia is a great competitor and so is Chellsie. It was fun
to watch."
The fans also got a treat with Alicia Sacramone's floor
exercise. Her saucy routine to techno salsa earned her a 9.9, the
highest score by any gymnast at nationals.
"I honestly didn't know," Sacramone said. "It felt like a
good routine but when I saw the score, my face was like, 'Oh my
God.' My jaw dropped. My eyes got really big. I was really
excited."
Liukin, who turns 16 in October, would have been a sure bet for
Athens if she'd been old enough, and the expectations for her first
nationals as a senior were high. She combines her mother's grace
and long lines, and her father's power and steely determination.
All of that was on display Saturday -- along with a little
improvisation.
A slip and wobble on the beam in Thursday's preliminaries left
her nearly a point behind Memmel, a huge gap.
"I was definitely pretty far behind. Everyone was telling me,
'Don't give up,' but it was hard," she said. "It was definitely
important to come back and show people I'm strong and a fighter and
I don't give up."
She got right to work with her first event, scoring a 9.766 on
the uneven bars to move into second place. Liukin does one of the
toughest bar routines in the world, yet makes it look effortless.
She flitted from bar to bar as if weightless, and her handstands
were so straight it was as if an invisible cable was pulling her
taut from above.
But Memmel held her own. Flying from the low bar to the high
bar, she came to a dead stop in a handstand without the slightest
of wobbles. She was already grinning before she landed her dismount
and her father and coach, Andy, pumped his fists in the air.
Liukin put down another challenge with a dazzling routine on the
balance beam. Unlike Thursday, when she wobbled and bobbled, she
was rock steady this time. She did a side somersault -- twisting a
quarter turn while flipping in the air -- as easily as if she was on
the flat ground. She whipped off her backflips as casually as most
people do cartwheels.
Her 9.8 was her highest score of the competition, and Memmel
couldn't match it. Not even close.
She lost her footing as she did a front somersault with a twist,
dropping to the mat as the crowd groaned. She had another big
wobble on a back handspring, and took a large hop forward on her
dismount. Her 8.8 dropped her behind Liukin, and she couldn't catch
her.
"I was disappointed, but you know, it happens sometimes,"
Memmel said. "It's just like a mental error. I just got up and
knew I had to hit to get at least second place."
Memmel was solid on floor, but Liukin sealed the victory with
some mid-air savvy. She over-rotated one of her tumbling passes and
could only get three twists instead of her planned three and a
half. But her last pass also had a triple twist -- and she wouldn't
get credit for it if she'd already done one earlier in the routine.
So Liukin improvised, doing two and a half twists.
"That was all her," Valeri Liukin said, laughing.
With a score of 9.6, all Liukin had to do was stand up on vault,
and the title was hers. She did, and the celebration was on.
"I'm proud of her as a father and a coach," Valeri Liukin
said. "You can only dream of your baby working hard to get where
she wants to be. And as a coach, what can I say? Look at the
results."
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