Gymnast Nastia Liukin Eats A Burger Amid Accusations She's 'Too Skinny'

It looks like Nastia Liukin is enjoying a burger... but only because trolls keep telling her to!

The Russian-born retired American Olympic gymnast has prompted concerns that she is "too skinny" in many of her recent posts, resulting in some telling her to eat a burger.

It looks like she took the advice to heart and decided to chow down on a burger... with fries!

On Wednesday, the five-time Olympic medalist started off her Instagram carousel by snapping a photo of her wearing a long-sleeve white dress and strappy pink heels. The next photo features her piling lettuce into a white take-out box that contains a burger.

The next slide shows the burger topped with a slice of tomato, pickle slices, and it looks like there is even some mayonnaise slathered on the bun. She didn’t post a video, but she did post a few photos of her biting into the burger, along with a bitten burger resting next to a side of fries.

Nastia recently debuted her own clothing line earlier this month. To celebrate the occasion, the 2008 Olympic all-around champion hosted a launch party to celebrate. Even though most launch parties serve hors d’oeuvres and small finger foods, Nastia decided to serve as a burger and fries due to all of the comments that she received telling her to eat a burger.

“This one is dedicated to all of you in my inbox (comments, DMs, emails, etc etc etc) telling me to go eat a burger,” she wrote in the caption along with emojis of a burger and fries. Fortunately, it seemed to be a hit with her guests. “It was quite possibly the *highlight* of the entire launch party for everyone,” she added. “Dallas loves you, the hamburger man.”

Fans had mixed reactions to her post. Although some thought it was an “awesome” way to get back at the trolls, other users felt like she was “giving in” to the negative comments about her image. “I hope they're happy now that you've eaten a burger. Now you can get back to the things that made you a world-class athlete and has kept you from looking like the average overweight American,” one fan commented.

“This is awesome on so many levels,” another follower wrote. “Icon,” a third fan agreed. “Those burgers look really good! Too bad they don't deliver to Virginia!” another follower exclaimed. “Don’t listen to the haters!” another fan chimed in. “Meanwhile I'm over here begging you to take your clothes to a tailor and not use hair ties for hacks,” another follower shared.

As The Blast previously reported, in addition to comments telling her to “eat a cheeseburger,” other users have gone as far as to tell her that she looks like a “malnourished child” while she was advertising some of the outfits from her recent collection.

“Please eat a cheeseburger. You look emaciated. I’m a big fan. Please don’t look like a stick,” one user wrote. “This is so unattractive. She looks like a malnourished child,” one netizen chimed in. “She needs a nutritionist and a therapist before she drops with cardiac arrest,” another user wrote.

Other followers speculated that she might have an eating disorder, with one netizen commenting, “As an athlete who has struggled for a decade +, (you know what I mean), I say sincerely, that I hope you’re able to be stronger than me and overcome. I see you. And send prayers.”

However, several fans did come to her defense. “Oh, you know her personally? Do you have her full story? No? …Then keep your back-handed comments to yourself,” one fan clapped back. “You never know what someone is going through and SURPRISE it’s none of your business. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. #manners.”