NBC Olympics
Beijing Olympic all-around champion Nastia Liukin finished in an unenviable position for an Olympian on “Dancing With the Stars,” fourth, missing the three-couple finale by being eliminated Tuesday.
Liukin was later asked if it compared to missing the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, four years after she won five medals at the Beijing Games.
“Not really,” she told “Access Hollywood” after the show, attended by her parents.
“As a gymnast, I was always so used to focusing on scores and placements and trying to be at the top,” Liukin told AfterBuzz TV. “[Partner] Derek [Hough] really just taught me to live in the moment and enjoy the journey and be myself, most importantly. I think that’s the biggest thing that I take from it is it’s OK to not be perfect. It’s OK to be emotional and be vulnerable.”
Liukin, 25, said she next returns to New York University to take spring semester finals. She’s also slated to be the Indy 500 Grand Marshal on May 24.
Liukin’s Beijing Olympic gymnastics teammate, Shawn Johnson, won “Dancing With the Stars” in May 2009 and finished second in an all-star edition in November 2012.
London Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman finished fourth on the show in May 2013.
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