Olympic Training Ground in Plano, Texas

Evgeny Marchenko and Valeri Liukin have every reason to be proud of their accomplishments. Together they own the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) and together they have produced over 150 State, Regional, National, and World Champion gymnasts since opening in the spring of 1994. It's not a mystery that WOGA is a success, its know-how; Marchenko is a five-time world champion in sport acrobatics, Liukin is a four-time Olympic gymnastics medalist and their staff of coaches and trainers own a total of 57 Olympic and World Championship gold medals.

Gymnastics Training

The gymnastics training program at WOGA is an eleven step process from the newest students to the 'Elite' team but participation in the Olympics is never the school's goal for it's students; to be successful it must be the student's goal for the school. At all levels, WOGA's program is designed to be recreational and fun for the students, not to mention encouraging. Valeri Liukin's personal philosophy is that every student has a the ability to rise to a level that is their own personal best, it's the schools job to help them attain that level. Only a small percentage of the students will have the stamina, determination and physical ability to achieve 'Elite' status but any student who achieves their personal best is a WOGA success story.

Among the small number of students on the Elite Team are Liukin's own daughter Nastia who, at age 14 has already won two gold medals from the 2003 Pan American Games; and Carly Patterson who, at age 16, in the 2004 Summer Olympics, was the first American female gymnast to win an Olympic gold in all-around gymnastics in a fully attended Olympic Games.