Time wouldn't wait for reigning gymnastic queen

Time wouldn't wait for reigning gymnastic queen

By Gil LeBreton

glebreton@star-telegram.com

<!-- & /mi/pubsys/story/byline, format=>'

[/mi/pubsys/story/byline]

' & --> <!-- & /mi/pubsys/story/credit_line, format=>'

[/mi/pubsys/story/credit_line]

' & -->

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In a way, Nastia Liukin had predicted the fate of her gymnastics comeback more than a month ago.

Three years had passed since the reigning Olympic all-around champion's last competition. But it had only been nine months since she announced that she wanted to again earn a place on the U.S. team.

"All athletes say this, but it's true," Liukin admitted last month in Dallas. "I wish I had more time."

Time, in the case of 22-year-old Liukin, likely would have meant more strength. More strength likely would have meant more repetitions of her complete routines in her family's Plano gym.

More repetitions of her full routines might have allowed Liukin to escape the tired wobbles and stumbles that she experienced at the Olympic trials on Friday night.

She said something else that day in Dallas: "Your performances will speak for themselves."

And so they did Friday night.

Sadly, and so they did.

Four years removed from standing atop gymnastics' highest mountain -- the victory podium after the women's all-around at the Olympic Games -- Nastia Liukin found her great career mired in the lowest of lows Friday night.

Attempting to come back and make the U.S. team in two of the four women's events, Liukin appeared to tire and falter near the end of her first routine of the night, the uneven bars.

As she prepared for her dismount from the bars, she over-rotated on her final handstand and had to bend her knees to maintain her balance.

Fatigued, she then failed to fully complete the dismount and landed unceremoniously on her backside.

Not even Olympic champions get a mulligan. The judges gave her a 7.55 for execution, making her score for the event 14.050. Of the 13 trials gymnasts who competed in the event, Liukin's score ranked 10th.

Though she still had one more event Friday, the balance beam, in which to impress the selection committee, Liukin seemed to know that her Olympic encore h opes probably were done.

"It was endurance," she said later, identifying the thorn in her night. "I was running out of steam."

Minutes later, Liukin was back on the balance beam, the second of two events in which she hoped to impress the selection committee enough to be selected one of the team's "specialists."

As she did on the bars, she started excellently, giving us all one lingering reminder of the grace and elegance that defined her style.

But again, as she approached the end of her routine, fatigue appeared to re-raise its unforgiving head.

"I was trying to finish it up," she explained, "and I didn't jump high enough."

She wobbled. Her dismount from the beam, usually precise and stylish, was punctuated this time with an unexpected extra hop.

"It's obviously a little disappointing," Liukin said afterward. "I just pretty much ran out of gas, and that comes with time. If I had just had a little more time and a few more months."

The second a nd final round of the trials will be Sunday. Liukin, even with her London hopes dashed, plans to go out like a champion should.

"I guess I could have easily scratched from the beam tonight," she correctly pointed out. "But for me personally, I definitely want to go out Sunday and have a good performance one last time. I've always been taught not to give up."

Liukin stopped short, however, of contending that a great performance in Sunday's finals should still merit consideration for the Olympic team.

"I don't want to put any words in anyone's mouth," she said. "Whether or not I'm on the team, I'll be so happy for the five who are."

The comeback, the nine months of hard work, still were all worth it, said the 2008 gold medalist.

"My main goal was to come back not to prove anything to anybody, but to myself," Liukin said. "And I think I proved that I could, that I could get into gymnastics shape, and get into a leotard again, and that I could make it back to here. And I'm pretty proud about that."

Time, however, couldn't wait, not even for the reigning queen of gymnastics.

Gil LeBreton, 817-390-7697

Twitter: @gilebreton

Looking for comments?