Gymnast Nastia Liukin Hikes Up Leg In Flexibility Clap-Back
By Rebecca Cukier on March 31, 2021 at 6:07 AM EDT
NastiaLiukin/Instagram
Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin is yanking up her leg in skimpy spandex while revealing she's sick and tired of people asking her the same question over and over. The 31-year-old five-time Olympic medalist, raised by two Olympic gymnast parents, has treated her 1 million Instagram followers to a brand new Q&A, one coming via her stories last night and seeing the blonde post one image or video for each question answered. One, in particular, got very bendy. Check it out below.
NastiaLiukin/Instagram
Scroll for the photo. Nastia, who is a veritable rubber band and last year made headlines for extending both legs in a bubble bath to promote Olay skincare, shared a throwback, one showing her indoors and stretching with remarkable ease.
The photo came with Liukin leaning against a wall and hiking up her right leg while turned out, also grabbing her angle with her hand as she posed in tight black leggings and a matching stretch sports bra. Nastia then shared her question.
NastiaLiukin/Instagram
Looking up at her foot and flaunting her cheese-grater abs in her bralette, the 2008 all-around champion captioned her photo with the fan question. "What's something you wish people would stop asking, love you," they wrote.
"Are you still really flexible?" Nastia replied – not her first clap-back, with 2020 seeing the gymnast make headlines as she defended being too "old" for a leotard. 2021, meanwhile, has brought a photo of Nastia's mother Anna Kotchneva, with Nastia joking about where she gets her flexibility "from."
NastiaLiukin/Instagram
Nastia, who turned 31 last year and retired aged just 22, has opened up on quitting the beam, even admitting that she felt like a fish out of water when hitting normal people gyms.
"I felt so lost for a good year. I gained probably 10 to 20 pounds, because when you stop doing something and just go cold turkey your body doesn’t even know what to do. I finally feel like I’ve found my rhythm again," she told The Cut in 2016. See her walking on her hands below.
Liukin added: "I remember walking into a regular gym, not a gymnastics gym, and looking at the equipment and thinking, “What are these things?” I had no idea what to do and how to use this equipment because my whole life was so structured."
Nastia, who now fronts brands including Pottery Barn and Facebook App, is enjoying a massive influencer career, also retailing her own $55 Celery Green Cream with Volition, plus every year hosting the annual Nastia Cup. If gymnast Simone Biles sounds familiar, scroll for her massive bikini thigh gap.
