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Nastia Liukin was born in Moscow but lives in Parker, that Collin County hot spot; moved here when she was little, with her very famous and very decorated parents, both of whom were Soviet champion gymnasts. Fourteen years ago, her father, gold medalist Valeri Liukin, opened the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano; also in Dallas and Frisco, it’s turned into a franchise. So, of course, a very local story.
Also a very international one, as the gymnast is on the U.S. Olympic Team headed for Beijing this summer. Which is why she’s on the cover of the one and only official Olympics-based video game — titled, go figure, Beijing ’08. Liukin’s at the bottom right of the cover, and she’s joined by Amanda Beard, Tyson Gay and Reese Hoffa. All of whom I could best … at, oh, Lego Star Wars on the PS2, maybe. –Robert Wilonsky
