January 9, 2009

What Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin Have Been Up To Lately

Inside Gymnastics has posted an interview with Shawn Johnson in which the 2007 world champion says she has not resumed regular training yet, but is working out with a personal trainer. "[Liang] Chow has always told me that he doesn't think it would be the best idea to come back till I'm back in shape, so it will be easier to get my skills and stuff," Johnson was quoted as saying. "[I'm doing] a lot of running and treadmills and stuff like that. I think the weirdest thing was having to wear tennis shoes. I don't know. I love it. It's really helped me. I feel a lot better than I did on tour and I'm slowly getting back into the shape that I was in."

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(photo: Getty Images)

Johnson also told Inside Gymnastics that she hadn't had much of a chance to look at the new Code and think about new skills and routine composition. "We haven't really had time. I haven't really been home too much, but I've thought of a few things and seen if there's anything different. Hopefully I won't have to change things around too much! But I have some research to do."

Read the rest of the interview here.

Meanwhile, some more stunning Nastia Liukin fashion shots have appeared online. The 2008 Olympic champion was recently shot modeling some designs by Max Azria.

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(photo: Alexei Hay/Azria)

"For the Max Azria campaign, we wanted someone iconic — someone timeless. We met Nastia at our last runway show, and she was everything we were looking for," said Lubov Azria, creative director of Max Azria. "The spring collection was inspired by movement and modern dance so she was perfect. It was meant to be, and the magic just sort of happened."

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(photo: Alexei Hay/Azria)

It's Liukin's first fashion campaign, and we think she looks fabulous (although we would have liked to see more of her face). However, it seems there are no plans to run the campaign in a magazine. Too bad - we think Liukin would make an excellent model, despite her lack of height (by modeling standards).

13 comments:

  1. I guess this will put everyone on IG at ease that Shawn is getting back into shape. Everyone kept mentioning that she was looking a little heavy on the tour. Well, I don't think it's so much packing on the pounds as it is the change of muscle definition when you aren't doing elite training like you're used to.

    Her coach suggested a smart thing. I think it makes sense to get back into athletic shape before resuming gymnastics training. Once she's back in shape, it'll be easier for her to adjust to being back in the gym. Otherwise resuming training after being gone a while can be frustrating and painful.

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  2. That AA was supposed to be for Shawn! Nastia stole it.

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  3. Nico, we agree on Shawn's course of action. It seems like a smart thing to do. We just hope her personal trainer knows what she's doing. According to Shawn, her trainer is not a "name" trainer, but rather the older sister of a school friend. Here's hoping she knows how to get a top athlete back in shape...

    TCO, please give it a rest. We know you don't like Nastia. We know you wanted Shawn to win the AA. You never give anyone a chance to forget. There's no need to keep bringing it up again and again, and we hope you'll stop doing it, because it's getting old. Please. No more anti-Nastia comments.

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  4. Except for those at IG who believe this is a secret plot by Shawn to pretend she's seriously training to milk her sponsors while she's really retired.

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  5. She's done. But at least she had a double back.

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  6. These anti-Nastia comments are getting pretty old. Why don't you just make an anti-Nastia blog and spread your views that way? I have my views on certain gymnasts and coaches but I don't write tons of comments or blog posts about them (okay. Maybe that nullifies the second sentence).

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  7. Eh to Nastia. I always enjoyed her beam work to Shawn's but preferred Shawn as the person. Where are the Max Azria photos going to go, if not a magazine?

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  8. becauseofitall, from what we've heard, the Max Azria photos were only meant to be circulated on the Internet. They were meant to create a bit of a buzz for the brand, and that's just what they did - in the gymnastics world anyway. Every gymnastics fan who has seen these photos now knows the Max Azria brand name. As for us, we'd definitely like to see the rest of the shoot, and we think the pictures leaked so far wouldn't look out of place in a magazine!

    TCO, seriously, give the Nastia-bashing a rest. Why bring up these old arguments on a thread which isn't even about Nastia's gymnastics? Save your anti-Nastia comments for threads which are actually about Nastia's gymnastics. Don't bring them up when they have no bearing on the subject at hand. Please. Stick to the topic and don't bore us with your pet peeves.

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  9. I say you girls have given TCO enough warnings now. One more annoying comment and ban him, PLEASE!

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  10. becauseofitall, assuming that you are not a close personal acquaintance with either of them, I think you mean you prefer Shawn's public media persona to Nastia's public media persona.

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  11. Maybe if you stop responding to TCO then Tco will stop. No attention = no interest.

    Elizabeth

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  12. Elizabeth, we have more or less done that for the last few days, and it seems to be working...

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  13. shawn johnson you are like the person i look up to your awesome

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