The Women’s Sports Foundation chose Olympic Gymnast, Nastia Liukin as their individual Sportswoman of the Year at their annual banquet on Tuesday. The 18-year-old Liukin won five medals at the Beijing Games, including the Gold Medal in the women’s all-around competition.
US Women’s Softball player, Jessica Mendoza was awarded the Team Sportswoman of the Year award.

Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, the Hamm Brothers and other US Olympic gymnasts are still on tour with Disney’s “Tour of the Gymnastic Superstars.” Here’s a brief clip of what goes on behind the scenes at the tour, plus a few works from Nastia Liukin about her plans after gymnastics.

US Gymnast, Nastia Liukin is still making the rounds of the talk show programs. On Monday, she appeared on Conan O’Brien’s show. Liukin is charming, but the highlight is the clip of former coach Bela Karloyi watching her Gold-Medal-winning floor exercise performance. Take a look:

The Disney-sponsored 2008 Tour of the Gymnastic Superstars kicked off on Sunday, September 7 in Reno. The 36-city tour features stars from the US mens and womens Olympic gymnastic teams, including Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, as well as favorites such as Paul and Morgan Hamm and Shannon Miller. The Tour will criss-cross the United States until November 16. For times, dates, and locations–and to buy tickets–click on the icon above.

Did you watch the Oprah Olympics show yesterday? It was a tear-jerker, but fun. No one does the patriotic, inspriational thing quite like Oprah. If you missed the show, I’ll be posting clips from it as they become available. Below is a segment with US Gymastics Gold Medalists, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin. Take a look:

Oprah Winfrey hosted 150 US Olympians for the taping of her season premiere yesterday in Chicago’s Millenium Park. She invited the whole team and most were able to attend, including Michael Phelps, Dara Torres, Shawn Johnson, and Nastia Liukin. Also on hand was Chicago’s Mayor, Richard Daley. He and Winfrey made clear their hopes that the 2016 Games will be held in Chicago. The episode will air on ABC on Monday, September 8 (2008). Below is just a peek at what happened yesterday:

A look a the road that led American gymnast, Nastia Liukin to her Gold Medal performances at the Beijing Olympics:

After a week of Silver Medals–in the team, the all-around competition, and the floor exercises, American gymnast, Shawn Johnson has a Gold Medal. She earned the medal in the balance beam competition on Tuesday, with a stellar score of 16.225. Her teammate, Nastia Liukin earned the Silver Medal and China\’s Cheng Fei took the Bronze Medal.
(photo © Newscom)

There have been a few surprises in the women’s individual gymnastics competitions. In the floor exercises, Romania’s Sandra Izbasa edged out the American women by just .15 points for the Gold Medal. Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin of the United States took the Silver and Bronze Medals.
In the vault, Alicia Sacramone of the United States, a three-time world medalist on the vault, sought to redeem herself for her mistakes in the women’s team competition, but it wasn’t to be. Although she performed two solid vaults, she didn’t have the difficulty factor to earn a medal. North Korea’s Hung Un Jong …read more

Actually it was a combination of the Chinese women\\\’s strong performances and the American women\\\’s mistakes that earned China the women\\\’s team gymnastic Gold Medal and the defending Olympic champion US team the Silver Medal. It started off well enough for the US, with all three gymnasts–Alicia Sacramone, Shawn Johnson, and Bridget Sloan–nailed their vaults. Johnson, Nastia Liukin, and Chellsie Memmel (competing with a broken ankle) were outstanding on the uneven bars. However, on the final two aparatuses, the team faltered. Sacramone fell off of the balance beam (below) even before her routine began and she landed on …read more