BEIJING - Over this year of monthly training camps and small meets, of national championships and Olympic trials, Martha Karolyi watched Nastia Liukin do double duty.
Liukin had become an international star on uneven bars and balance beam. She has won world titles in those events, where her elegant long lines and training from her mother, Anna, who was a world champion rhythmic gymnast, are best displayed.
But on the vault and floor exercise, Liukin had been at a disadvantage in major international meets, especially against her fellow American Shawn Johnson. Johnson is 6 inches shorter than Liukin but compact and powerful. Those skills were best displayed on the floor and vault.
"During this season of practice, I've noticed that Nastia has been doing double routines on the floor exercise," said Karolyi, the U.S. national team coordinator.
"Sometimes she would do two in a row, and that is a very difficult thing, extremely tiring and exhausting."
Liukin had to do only one floor exercise routine last night, her last of the night, at the Olympic women's gymnastics all-around final. That extra practice paid off, and she did it so easily it capped a gold-medal performance for the 18-year-old Russian-born, Texas-raised winner.
Defending world champion Johnson won the silver, and China's Yang Yilin took the bronze.
Karolyi was in the stands, leaving the floor to the personal coaches. For Liukin, that is her father, Valeri. For Johnson, that is Liang Chow.
Valeri Liukin was a double Olympic gold medalist for the Soviet Union 20 years ago in Seoul. Chow is a former Chinese national team member and a native of Beijing. The two men have become friends, as have their pupils, but last night, Liukin and Johnson were also opponents.
Johnson, 16, of West Des Moines, Iowa, had carried the weight of being the pre-Olympic favorite after she won the 2007 world championship in Germany.
Bart Conner, former U.S. men's gymnast and husband of 1976 gold medalist Nadia Comaneci, said he sat in the stands at the National Indoor Stadium with mixed emotions.
"I loved the competition," he said. "It was a great performance, but it was so heartbreaking for Shawn. I could see how disappointed she was.
"I've said this before, many times. It's really dangerous to be the 'it' girl the year before the Olympics. On the one hand, you have the enormous publicity and the endorsement money. The other side of the sword are the expectations and pressure."
