The 10 Most Influential Women Of 2008: Nastia Liukin

The guys at AskMen.com unveiled their list of the “49 Most Influential Men of 2008” and the results, voted on by their readers, may surprise you. Check out the full list and then, over the next two weeks, check out our picks for the “10 Most Influential Women of 2008”—The Frisky picked a female counterpart for each of the men in AskMen’s Top Ten. We hope you agree with our choices!

#9—Our Pick: Nastia Liukin
AskMen’s Pick: Cristiano Ronaldo

This summer during the Beijing Olympics, we were mesmerized by American gymnast Nastia Liukin. She took home the gold medal in the individual all-around event, a team silver, a bronze in floor exercise, a silver on the uneven bars, and a silver in balance beam. With these winnings, Liukin is tied with Shannon Miller and Mary Lou Retton for the record as the American gymnast with the most medals won at a single Olympics.

Even if she doesn’t compete in the 2010 London Olympics, you’ll be seeing Nastia around—she’s currently a face of CoverGirl, has her picture on Wheaties boxes, and is working on her dream of becoming an actress. She’s off to a good start on reaching that goal—she had a cameo in the 2006 gymnastics movie “Stick It” and will appear on an episode of “Gossip Girl” this season. Oh, and she also has her own line of gymnastics training equipment in her “signature pink.”

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