For all the thousands of vaults that Nastia Liukin has ever done in her life
This is the only one that counts right now.
I feel like... just like... winning a Super Bowl
If you play football that's obviously the ultimate dream.
As a gymnast the ultimate dream is to win an Olympic gold medal.
rebound: to recover from setback or frustration
I'm Nastia Liukin, Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics
and now I'm also a co-founder of a tech platform.
Both my parents were gymnasts. So growing up I just spent so much time in the gym
because my dad was actually still training and competing
up until I was about three or four years old and so that's really how
I fell in love with the sport and just developed such a huge passion for it.
As I kind of progress through the levels I think you know our
dreams kind of became bigger to you know make the national team and then make a
world championship team become a world champion and then an Olympian.
Leaving Beijing with five Olympic medals. I won the all-around Gold.
It was way beyond like anything I would have truly expected.
So after the Beijing Olympics
for gymnastics especially as a female I was kind of getting older I guess and I
knew though that I was going to be in London the 2012 olympics one way or the
other I don't want to be thinking what if.
I had a torn labrum and rotator cuff in my shoulder and it was leading up to the
Olympic Trials where you know it was obviously too late in the game to get
any kind of operation it's painful but it's tolerable and so I I kind of went
through it and got to the Olympic Trials and on my very best event, the uneven bars
I came crashing down face-first literally on my face
what my parents always told me was no matter what you have to finish what
you've started
I knew at that point that I wasn't going to make that Olympic team but I wanted
to finish on my own terms and so got back up I finished my routine landed on
my feet on my dismount and for the very first time in my life and career I had a
standing ovation for the worst routine of my entire life and career and I
remember being confused.
I always felt like people weren't going to love or
support me unless I was the best unless I won a gold medal or finished in first
place and in the moment that I had there in San Jose at those Olympic Trials just
made me realize that life isn't about being the best or winning a gold medal
or having the highest salary or having the best job position it truly is about
finding something that you love to do finding something that you're passionate
about it's about the journey and it's not necessarily always about the outcome
and so I feel like that kind of became the defining moment of my career being
able to you know rebound from a moment that I thought was you know
career-ending and devastating and embarrassing and in all of those
emotions and feelings that I was feeling yet when I got back up and I finished in
20,000 people were on their feet and millions cheering back at home it was a
moment that even somewhat tops the moment that I had in Beijing when I won
that gold medal it was the hardest transition of my life when that chapter
of my life came to a close because I remember moving to New York City and
starting school at NYU and I had no idea who I was because you know six at find
me my entire life you know I'm forever
grateful and proud of the moment that I had in Beijing when I did win a gold
medal but I never wanted that to be the thing that defined me as a person for
the rest of my life and so it wasn't easy to kind of step away from that but
I feel like it's been the greatest thing that I've been able to do because I
don't want to look back on my life you know I'm 40 50 60 years old and thinks
that while it was amazing you know the only thing I was able to accomplish and
the proudest thing was when I was 18 I want to do I want to do more I want to
achieve greater and even bigger things