Gymnastics · 2008 · Beijing, China
Five Medals, One Golden Beijing
An American gymnast wins the Olympic all-around title and matches a national record for medals at a single Games, inside one week in Beijing.
63.325 (gold)
All-around score
5 (1G, 3S, 1B)
Total medals, Beijing 2008
16.900 (team uneven bars)
Highest score of the Games
Nastia Liukin went into the 2008 Beijing all-around final as one of two leading American contenders, alongside her training partner and the reigning world champion Shawn Johnson. On 15 August she was clean across all four apparatus and took the all-around gold, edging Johnson into silver, becoming the third American woman to win the title after Mary Lou Retton in 1984 and Carly Patterson in 2004.
That was one of five medals. She took silver with the team, silver on both the uneven bars and the balance beam, and bronze on floor exercise, a tally that tied the records held by Retton and Shannon Miller for the most gymnastics medals won by an American at a single Olympics.
Her uneven bars routine in the team final scored 16.900, the highest mark awarded anywhere in the Olympic gymnastics competition that year. She was the most complete gymnast in the building all week, not only on the night she won the title.
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