U.S. hopefuls laying the groundwork for Olympic run

Nastia Liukin, one of Team USA's best all-around gymnasts, must overcome a lingering foot injury to make the '08 Olympic squad. AP

Flash back to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea, where the former Soviet Union assembled perhaps the most dominant men's gymnastics team on record. Two of the members, Valeri Liukin and Dmitri Bilozerchev, combined to win eight medals. Bilozerchev also won world all-around titles in 1983 and 1987. So this past weekend marked an odd reunion of sorts when both gymnasts were coaching their Moscow-born children at the U.S. Championships in San Jose.

This is nothing new for Liukin. He and wife, Anna, herself a world champion in rhythmic gymnastics in 1987, settled in the States when their daughter, Nastia, was 2 years old and eventually opened their own gym in the Houston area. Nastia, 17, entered this year's championships as the defending all-around champ and earned another spot on the U.S. team that will compete in the world championships next month -- despite a lingering foot injury. She won the national title on the uneven bars in San Jose with a routine blending her father's daring and mother's grace. While Nastia enters the world championships in Stuttgart as the favorite to win bars and a medal threat on the balance beam, her all-around prospects for the Beijing Games next summer depend on her ability to rebound from the injury that has hampered her training for the past year. "We need her doing full routines now," Valeri said last week. "This is one chance at an Olympics and she can't expect her body to start to do four events a week before the competition."

At 16, Alexy Bilozerchev is probably looking down the road at the 2012 Olympics; but it doesn't hurt to have his stepfather as his coach. The elder Bilozerchev became the youngest male to win the world all-around title when he won the championship in Budapest in 1983. Some consider him the greatest gymnast in history and note he lost his best years, in 1984 and 1985, while recovering from a horrific car accident that shattered his leg in 40 places. Last week, Alexy, who came to the States at age 4, won the U.S. junior title. "I don't think I could ask for better footsteps to follow," he said.

Dmitri has been coaching at Ohio State since setting up roots in the U.S. "I am very proud of him," Bilozerchev said of Alexy this week. "To be good at this level, you need more than just skills; you need to understand what you are doing. You need a commitment to improve all the time, to correct mistakes, to get up from failures. He is on his way."

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