Brainstorm

"If you're going through hell," said Winston Churchill, "keep going." After American gymnast Nastia Liukin suffered a severe ankle injury a year before the Olympics, many thought she'd never compete again. But Nastia,daughter of two Soviet champions, was born to win. Her father Valeri, the first man to do a triple backflip, competed in the 1988 Olympics and lost the gold medal by less than 1/10th of a point. He spent the next two decades as his daughter's coach, teaching her everything he knew about gymnastics and determination. Injuring herself doubled her resolve to win, says Nastia. She came back stronger than she'd ever been and went on to win the All-Around Gold—the same event her father had lost exactly 20 years before. —Jay Dixit Read More