Valeri Liukin

Valeri Liukin
Personal information
Full nameValeri Viktorovich Liukin
Born (1966-12-17) 17 December 1966
Height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Spouse
(m. 1988)
Gymnastics career
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
Country
represented
Kazakhstan
Former countries represented Soviet Union
RetiredOctober 6, 1994
Medal record
Representing  Soviet Union
Men's Artistic Gymnastics
Olympic Games
1988 Seoul Team
1988 Seoul Horizontal bar
1988 Seoul All-around
1988 Seoul Parallel bars
World Championships
1987 Rotterdam Team
1991 Indianapolis Team
1991 Indianapolis All-around
European Championships
1987 Moscow All-Around
1987 Moscow Floor
1987 Moscow Parallel bars
1987 Moscow Horizontal bar
1987 Moscow Rings
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. He also has one of the most difficult skills in men's artistic gymnastics named after him, the triple back (tucked) somersault.