Olympic champ Nastia Liukin on footwear, fashion and training in your twenties

Never mind how much the Olympic champion had been training, what skills she was working, when we might see her in competition again. There was a more urgent question afoot -- namely, where did you get those shoes?

 

In the gym, Liukin is well known for her artistic, balletic style. Off the floor, the Olympic champion has a penchant for sky-high black heels, which she wears to events and appearances but never at home in Plano, she insists.  

 

That day's pair -- call them Nastia's podium training footwear statement -- were platform heeled booties with silver zippers (not unlike the Alexander McQueens seen here). And to answer everybody's inquiry, they came from Nordstrom.

 

The black booties were one of six pairs of shoes Liukin toted with her to Florida. "My mom was like, 'Why is your bag so full?'" she laughed. "I was like, 'Um, I have no idea!'"

 

Which led to a bevy of fashion questions, and some surprising revelations (who knew that Nastia and her mom design the Supergirl Cup leotards together, but Valeri Liukin gets the final say?)

 

Read on below for the Q and A. Don't worry if you love gymnastics but fashion's not quite your thing -- Liukin also dishes on her comeback, training as a twenty-something and her thoughts on World champion Aliya Mustafina, among other things. Enjoy!

 

Q: It's well known that you design the leotards for the Supergirl Cup. Where do your fashion inspirations come from?

 

Nastia Liukin: "I normally always go to fashion week, but I wasn't able to go -- I was in Vancouver shooting Hellcats this year, but just seeing different clothing and designs and materials and stuff. Obviously you can't change materials in a leotard, but like, different designs.

 

"I always have a little sketchpad with me and just draw things out, so I do have inspiration and I also have inspiration with things that inspire me -- even I think about my previous leotards and that's sometimes cool. 

 

"The one we did this year, the design was one of my competition leotards for a national championships, things like that. That one we drew out -- me and my mom do it together. And then my dad gets like a final pick. I'm like, 'OK, here's like three! Which one's your favorite?' I always go with his pick. So it's like we're all part of the design process. So that's for this. And then I have two lines -- the GK by Nastia line and the Supergirl line, and those you just like hand-draw those out, and have like, little swatches, like 300 of them, every fabric color. It's just fun for me. It's kind of like, some people like to write poetry or something, and for me, that's just something like a stress reliever. I just like drawing stuff out."

 

Q: Who are your favorite designers?

 

Liukin: "I like obviously Max Azria. I got to do the spring campaign for them, so that was like, amazing. It was so funny how that came about -- I got to meet him, and I was just like, 'Oh my God, I met him!' and two weeks later he calls my agent and is like, 'Does she want to appear in our spring campaign?' I'm like, 'Um, yeah!' [Laughs] 

 

"Other than that, Alice and Olivia, I love the designs and on a day-to-day basis, I'm pretty casual. I never dress up like this. Like at home, I don't wear heels. But everywhere else I go, I wear heels. It's really funny. Yeah, I guess just girly kind of stuff. 

 

"Max, he has a few different lines. He has the BCBG Max Azria line, and the Max Azria line, which is the line that I did, and it's kind of more flowy, and fashion forward, whereas BCBG is more your casual. And then he has his Herve Leger, which is like, very red carpet glam, and I like all three of them, and you can wear them all for different occasions. 

 

"And they're just really cool too, because any event you have -- I had my 21st birthday in California, and of course I invited them, and they were like, 'Oh, just come into the showroom and pick out a dress that you want to wear!' And I was like, 'OK!' So any event I have, they'll send me like 10 dresses and it's wear what you want, so that's like really cool. Those are definitely the perks of it, I have to say. And everyone's always like, 'Well, do you get to keep them?' and I'm like, no, but like, you can't really re-wear a dress anyway ... I did get to keep a few of the dresses I did from the photo shoot, so that was really cool."

 

Q: Certainly you've never been asked this before, but how's training coming along?

 

Liukin: [Laughs] "I'm the kind of person that doesn't ... and I know this is your standard -- everyone's always like, 'You always give the standard Nastia Liukin answer!' and I'm like, 'I don't have anything else!' [Laughs]

 

"I'm just trying to really take it one day at a time, because for me -- and I know this sounds cliche, whatever -- I achieved my ultimate goal, and nothing can really top that, you know? So it's like now you have to personally really want it, and you have to set those new goals for yourself, so I'm taking it one day at a time and seeing where I can take myself, and to which level. And I'm not going to compete or put myself outhere unless I feel 100 percent ready. 

 

"You know, in 2009 I just felt, Nationals was in Dallas and it was kind of a little bit ... forced. Pressure a little bit to compete there, and I knew I wasn't ready, so it was kind of a little bit hard on me. I've never competed not being ready. I've had falls and stuff, but that's kind of different. 

 

"I don't want to repeat my mistakes. I try to learn from my mistakes, and that's kind of the plan I've been taking right now. You know, I've always been kind of a weak gymnast, so that's the most important thing is getting back in shape and getting my strength back. Well, as opposed to flexibility, I didn't lose much flexibility but I did lose strength. And so a lot of running to strengthen and conditioning to strengthen so that's kind of it. 

 

"My dad's like -- like I can do so many skills -- he's like, 'You don't even need to be doing this, you need to be doing all your like, climbing the rope,' you know, like that kind of stuff, and I'm like, 'This is boring!' [laughs] and he's like, 'Well?' So just kind of taking it day by day and trying to get stronger right now."

 

Q: You sound like Jonathan Horton, who was saying that when you're 6 years old going to the gym is the most exciting thing in the world, but when you're in your 20s, it just kind of gets hard.

 

Liukin: "Seriously! It does! Because you're just like, you have to do these boring things. I know all the little girls are like, 'I hate conditioning!' I'm like, 'Join the club!' [laughs] It gets worse when you're 21. [Laughs]

 

"You need longer to rest. And lifting 120 pounds is a lot harder than lifting 60 pounds!

 

"Probably [it's harder] for the coaches too. They're probably like, 'We have to get stronger too!' It's a little harder for everyone, but it's just been fun too, because I'm so used to training by myself and now I have this whole crop of girls. 

 

"It's good and bad. It's good to have somebody there to push you -- with with Rebecca obviously, but also like Katelyn Ohashi and Lizzy [LeDuc] and those girls coming up. They're like incredible. I'm just like, oh, my God. My mom's like, you need to stop comparing yourself to a 13-year-old, because you'll never be 13 again, like, you could do a lot of that! And I'm like, 'OK, OK, you're right!'

 

"So I think it's both ways. I take it a little bit hard on myself because I'm comparing myself a lot, and that's the kind of person I am because I'm so competitive, but it's also good, because I am competitive, so it kind of kicks you in the butt."

 

Q: Is the fire to do gymnastics still there?

 

Liukin: "I'm going to be honest -- there's definitely days where it's just like, 'Why am I doing this?' But at times, it's like ... I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if I'll compete this year or not. I unfortunately can't determine the future. And now it's definitely more unsure than it was in 2008, because it was like, I trained 18 years of my life for this moment. 

 

"It's almost like, it was expected. That was part of the goal, part of my life. It was kind of like destiny, I feel like. And now it's a little bit different, because it's like, I'm unsure. I'm not ... it's kind of like up to myself, really. If I can do it then great, but if I can't, then I said, I have achieved that [Olympic all-around gold]. 

 

"So I think that takes a little bit of pressure off of me, whereas I'm not coming in to redeem anything. I don't feel like I have something to win that I didn't win. I'm very satisfied with my accomplishments and if it doesn't happen, I am the athlete rep and I definitely want to stay involved in gymnastics forever, so whether I compete in London or not, I definitely want to try and help the U.S. send their best team, whether I'm on it or not, to try. 

 

"So I guess there is that one, the team gold is what we kind of feel like what we missed out on a little bit, and so that's one thing that would be missing."

 

Q: Have you gotten to chat with Aliya Mustafina here in Jacksonville?

 

Liukin: "Not yet -- I just got in late last night. She actually came to the WOGA Classic before she was a senior twice, two years in a row. She and her little sister both came. So that was kind of neat, to see her progress. You can always tell when someone has talent. It's like watching Katelyn Ohashi -- you know, it's just like, wow! They stand out. 

 

"And so that's kind of how it was in our gym when she was training with us ... but we have to remember that it's still early in the season. I remember getting ready for American Cup, and it's never easy after the holidays, you take a few days off ... and it's just like, well, I mean, not in my case. [Laughs] I didn't really take any days off. I was the only one in the gym on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day ..."