[Guest post by DRJ]

I’m in the sporting mood today after watching college football this weekend. Feel free to talk football but my topic is US gymnast Anastasia “Nastia” Liukin who won five medals at the Olympics in Beijing, including a gold in the all-around competition and a silver in the team competition.

Nastia and her family live in Parker, Texas, a small town located near Dallas. Her father Valeri Liukin was an Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast from Kazakhstan and her mother Anna was a rhythmic gymnast. Both competed for the Soviet Union but after its fall, Valeri, Anna, and Nastia emigrated to the Dallas area.

Yesterday Nastia’s hometown honored her with a welcome-home parade that was the town’s first-ever parade:

“Organizers of the parade, which moved to the beat of the 200-strong Plano East Marching Band, had to turn away some would-be [parade] participants because there wasn’t enough space in the line.

“For a little town to have a parade that big was amazing,” said Joe Cordina, mayor of Parker, which has about 3,300 residents and is 19 miles northeast of Dallas. Cordina said the town’s first parade went “incredibly smooth.”

The mile-long event included U.S. marshals on horseback, an antique fire engine, a rock band playing “My Girl” and flatbed trucks filled with local scout troops. Most people waved American flags, peacock feathers or congratulatory signs for Liukin.

There were chants of “Way to go Nastia, way to go!” and some aspiring future champions back-flipped and cartwheeled down the middle of the parade route.”

The parade was followed by a reception at the Southfork Ranch popularized in the TV show Dallas. One participant was surprised at Nastia’s small stature (she’s 5’3″), noting that on TV she seemed to tower over the other gymnasts.

Meanwhile, the Epoch Times reported last week that two of the members of China’s gold medal-winning team are 14 years old.

— DRJ