Former Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin has become a significant voice in women’s gymnastics since she retired in 2012.
Originally from Moscow, Russia, Liukin moved to the United States when she was two years old and later represented the U.S. gymnastics team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
During those games, she achieved remarkable success, winning five medals and tying the record for the most medals won by a U.S. gymnast in a single Olympics
Recently, in an interview with NBC host Dr. Michael Gervais, Liukin addressed concerns about potential biases among Olympic judges.
She mentioned that judges closely observe athletes during practice sessions, often noting any mistakes.
Liukin expressed worry that these observations could lead to biased perceptions during actual competitions, where judges might mistakenly mark down athletes for errors that didn’t occur, influenced by their pre-conceived notions.
The most interesting thing is that the judging actually started before the competition,” Liukin said.
“So these judges that are on the Olympic floor are also showing up to your training.
And for me I remember talking about this and someone said but that’s not fair. How are they getting to judge you before the competition?
So they sit there and they memorize your routines, they actually put them down on paper, pen to paper.
“So they know if you make a mistake in the training consistently, without even question they already almost see it, see that same mistake in the competition, even if you didn’t do it.
