The young men lurked for a good hour.

They'd barged boldly into the AT&T store at Park Lane and Central Expressway last weekend, carrying posters asking "What's cookin' good Liukin?"

The effort was to impress Nastia Liukin, the Olympic gymnast from Parker, who was busily signing autographs for fans.

It worked – she uploaded their photo to her Twitter page and wrote, "I have the coolest fans, ha-ha."

In such moments, life for Liukin, 19, may not appear much different than a year ago, when she won the all-around gold and four other medals at the Beijing Olympics and became a mainstream goddess.

Sparked by her grace, the achievement of her lifelong dream, her back story as the only daughter of Soviet immigrants and world-class gymnasts – and by NBC commentator Bela Karolyi's gushing – everybody got to know Nastia.

But her life is far from frozen on her golden moment. Liukin will return to major competition for the first time since Beijing in front of a home crowd at the Visa national championships this week at American Airlines Center.

With her greatest goal already behind her, living in a juxtaposition of fame and normalcy, she's figuring out what comes next.

Liukin has announced her intent to compete in the 2012 London Games. Neither Mary Lou Retton nor Carly Patterson, America's only other Olympic all-around champions, competed in a second Olympics. Though Liukin could become the most celebrated U.S. gymnast in history, continuing to compete is risky; it's taking the hard way.

"It's cool to do something no one has ever done," Liukin said during recent interviews with The Dallas Morning News. "I like to prove people wrong – that's just the way I am.

"[Beijing] was an amazing journey, but I wanted to put a wrap on it. I wanted to start fresh."

After returning from China, Liukin hit the celebrity circuit. From Oprah to the White House to last month's ESPN awards show – where she won the ESPY for female athlete of the year and got a congrats from Kobe Bryant and admiring words from Condoleezza Rice – she soaked it up.

She treated herself to a new BMW, a sleek, white 645Ci, along the way.

But dating to January, months removed from the Games, Liukin has been spending time in the gym.

"She still waits in line, like everybody else," Valeri Liukin, her father and coach, said of training with the other gymnasts at World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano. It's one of three area gyms the family co-owns with Evgeny Marchenko, who coached Patterson.

Liukin has continued living at home, though Valeri and mom Anna ceded the upstairs to her. She enrolled in two courses at SMU that started in January.

"I was so proud, but I was kind of ready to move on," Liukin said of her college life. "I was around people that were normal and not at [public] appearances or with corporate people. It let me live my life a bit outside of everything."

But it became challenging to be everything to everyone.

School – with appearances and travel, on top of the training – became almost impossible, and by spring break, Liukin withdrew.

Still, Liukin turned down opportunities. Evan Morgenstein, Liukin's agent, said his client willingly passed on an estimated half-million dollars in appearances and endorsements so she could remain in the gym.

She had the chance to pursue appearing on Dancing With the Stars, but didn't.

Meanwhile, Shawn Johnson, Liukin's U.S. teammate, rival and fellow Olympic medalist, ended up winning the show, along with TMZ-level fame. Johnson, though, is not competing in gymnastics and hasn't decided whether to return to the sport.

"I did win the all-around gold, and I was just back in the gym training, and it seemed like no one really cared," Liukin admitted to feeling at times.

Then she'd focus on what kept rising up – it would all be worth it when she could compete again.

It's not that Liukin, who wore lucky No. 7 and four-leaf clover charms around her neck at last week's autograph signing, didn't get all she ever wanted in Beijing.

It's still a thrill – the dream she had the night before of winning the all-around, so vivid that she woke up thinking it was real; the narrow win over Johnson, a surprise to many; the embrace with Valeri afterward. "It's so clear in my mind," Liukin said.

That triumph takes the edge off for Liukin, who is admittedly nervous about the Visa Championships.

She's putting herself out there, and doing it in front of friends and family, a community that idolizes her and an NBC audience with expectations. She is not close to the same shape she was in last summer because of all the obligations out of the gym.

Liukin will perform only on the balance beam and uneven bars, but she views competing again as a huge accomplishment. She has made a comeback before, after a lingering ankle injury kept her out of competition for almost a year between 2006 and '07.

"I have nothing to lose," said Liukin, who competed on the beam two weeks ago at the CoverGirl Classic in Iowa, placing second. "People say, 'Don't you have pressure as the reigning all-around champion?' Not really. ... I still won. I'm doing it now because I love it."

Liukin could be improved by the World Championships in October in London – where she could become the all-time American leader in world medals, breaking her tie with Shannon Miller at nine each.

Or it could take until 2010. Or 2011. Liukin, a perfectionist, is trying to find the patience.

This is why she receives doubting looks when she talks about the 2012 Games, when she'll be almost 23. Patterson retired soon after the 2004 Olympics because of back injuries and hopes for a pop music career.

"It's pretty crazy; I know I couldn't be competing," Patterson, now 21, said of her close friend.

Liukin is lithe and tall, for gymnastics. She's grown an inch since the Olympics to about 5-foot-3. But she has the ideal body type for longevity and the artistic style that has become more of an emphasis in judging. She believes her dad can guide her through the physical challenges.

Nadia Comaneci tied for silver in Moscow four years after scoring the first Olympic perfect 10 score in 1976. But she was only 18 in 1980. Czechoslovakia's Vera Caslavska was the last to repeat, at 26, but that was in 1964 and '68. Russia's Svetlana Khorkina took silver to Patterson in 2004, at 25.

"What amazes me more than anybody I have seen in my life is her determination to stay in the sport," Karolyi, who coached Retton and Comaneci, said of Liukin. "Her sense of responsibility I have never seen, not even Mary Lou. To stay in front of the kids ... as their role model is so impressive. She's back in the gym, and I have never seen anyone like that, including Nadia. To do that and juggle the sponsors ... she satisfies and pleases everybody."

Liukin is in discussion to renew agreements with major sponsors in AT&T and Visa. She will lead her own foundation focused on healthy living. USA Gymnastics is launching a competition named in her honor. She's tried TV reporting from the gymnastics floor and walked a fashion runway, both things she'd like to do more of.

But none of it is as big as getting back to competition this week, at home. A year after Beijing, Liukin, it turns out, is just getting cookin'.

"You have to start somewhere," Liukin said, without a trace of irony.

"No matter how good or bad my competitions go, I'm just happy to be back out there again."

When: Wednesday through Saturday

Where: American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave., and Dallas Convention Center, 650 S. Griffin St.

Schedule: Go to www.usa-gymnastics.org

Tickets: Prices vary; call 1-800-745-3000 for information.

More information on Liukin: twitter.com/nliukin or www.nastialiukin.com

Other Dallas-area gymnasts competing in 2009 Visa Championships:

ACROBATIC GYMNASTICS:
Axl Osborne, Richardson, and Dylan Inserra, Richardson (senior men's pair, WOGA)

MEN'S ARTISTIC:
Preston Ellsworth, Allen (junior, WOGA)
Eric Schryver, Richardson (junior, WOGA)

WOMEN'S ARTISTIC:
Kennedy Baker, Lewisville (junior, Texas Dreams)
Briley Casanova, Dallas (junior, WOGA)
Madison Kocian, Dallas (junior, WOGA)
Sophia Lee, Plano (junior, WOGA)
Grace McLaughlin, Allen (junior, WOGA)
Abigail Milliet, Denton (junior, Denton Gymnastics Academy)
Kiana Winston, Fort Worth (junior, Texas Dreams)

TRAMPOLINE & TUMBLING:
Amy McDonald, McKinney (senior, Eagles Wings Athletics)
Scott Sapolio, Denton (junior, The Palaestra)

AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER

Wednesday

1 p.m.: Junior men

7 p.m.: Senior men

Thursday

1 p.m.: Junior women

7 p.m.: Senior women

Friday

7 p.m.: Senior men

Saturday

1 p.m.: Junior women

6:30 p.m.: Senior women

DALLAS CONVENTION CENTER

Wednesday

9 a.m.: Junior rhythmic all-around prelims & event finals

3 p.m.: Senior rhythmic all-around prelims & event finals

Thursday

9 a.m.: Acrobatic prelims

1 p.m.: Trampoline and tumbling prelims

Friday

9 a.m.: Rhythmic junior all-around finals & senior all-around (rope and ball)

1 p.m.: Acrobatic prelims and L8 - I finals

3 p.m.: Trampoline and tumbling junior finals and senior double mini and synchro finals

Saturday

11 a.m.: Rhythmic, acrobatic, trampoline and tumbling finals

Wednesday: 7 p.m. – Senior women, live on Universal Sports and webcast

Thursday: 7 p.m. – Senior men, live on Universal Sports and webcast

Friday: 2 p.m. – Senior men recap, Ch. 5

Saturday: 7 p.m. – Senior women, live on Ch. 5, delayed webcast.