Fun for the Whole Family!

In light of Nastia Liukin’s gold medal win, I think I will use today’s Olympic Round-Up to examine a specific subset of Olympians: the Olympic parents.

There seem to be two kinds:

The proud, doting, appropriately anxious, but distanced fan parent, a.k.a. the Mrs. Phelps. She sits in the stands. She’s tense when he’s behind (or, as is more likely, when one of his teammates seems to be behind). She’s jubilant when he’s ahead. And, win or lose, she gives a hug and a kiss and just seems all-around psyched to be there.

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Then there’s the other kind, the ex-Olympian who’s seeking to make up for his personal losses and All-Around regrets by getting his kid to win a gold medal instead. What do we call that kind of over-bearing, too close, stress-inducing parent? Valeri Liukin.

It’s got to be scary enough having an ex-Soviet gymnast as your coach, but if he’s also your dad, jeez. Surgeons aren’t allowed to operate on their kids. Permanently disappointed athletes probably shouldn’t be allowed to coach their kids. It’s not because the quality of the training is worse, but because having your dad make you do incredibly dangerous things while you’re not wearing pants has got to leave a weird vibe at the dinner table.

I will say one thing though; this picture is going to make an awesome Liukin Family Christmas card.