Nastia Liukin enjoying life, work after Beijing Olympics

PLANO, Texas — Nastia Liukin was recently dining in Los Angeles. The producers of the CW drama Gossip Girl happened to be at the same restaurant. They'd heard, maybe during her radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, that she loves their show.

They passed her a note that night. Soon after, they contacted her management about making an appearance.

This stuff happens to Liukin now. You get perks when you're the Olympic gymnastics all-around champion and an Olympic medalist five times over. She belongs in this realm.

"It's very, very, very cool," said Valeri Liukin, her father and coach. "To see Nastia become a superstar and watch her, I cannot believe this is real. She's just riding the wave right now."

The wave includes meeting President Bush at the White House. She is friends with tennis star Maria Sharapova and is a Wheaties box and US Weekly cover girl.

She has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" and "The View," and has done a skit on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

But she is still "Nast," and the biggest change her family and friends see in her is the deep satisfaction and joy that come from having achieved her lifelong dream, which she did just more than a month ago in Beijing.

"I'm just trying to enjoy this time in my life," said Parker, Texas' most famous resident, who turns 19 this month. "It's definitely been crazy, but it's been so fun."

She was home last week — if only briefly — for another North Texas-adores-Nastia celebration. The 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars, which included fellow Beijing gold medalist Shawn Johnson, visited American Airlines Center.

During the quick trip home last week, over sushi at her favorite spot in a Plano strip mall near the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, where she essentially grew up, Liukin took a little time to reflect on her life, post-Beijing.

The casual lunch party included one person who could understand: Carly Patterson. Liukin's longtime friend, who won the 2004 all-around Olympic gold, is launching a pop music career.

From the tour, Liukin keeps in touch with her mother, Anna, and father as much as she can. Anna wishes her only child would call more than text message, but the tour's band always seems to be playing and people are always around.

Her relationship with her father is different now. He has always been there, pushing and supporting her as they went for their dream.

But that's done. During her balance beam routine on the tour, Liukin pays tribute to her parents. She performs to the song "Butterfly Kisses" and incorporates a ribbon, a nod to her mother's rhythmic gymnastics career.

She misses her toy poodle, Ella, on the road. And she's getting used to the wildly varying schedule and long stretches of waiting. Liukin's life, after all, was always structured around training, recovering and training some more.

She's hung out with Maria Sharapova a couple times, including at Fashion Week in New York. Sharapova came to one of Liukin's shows in California. They're athletes of Russian heritage who have found a common bond.