WOGA began in 1993 when Valari Liukin, Olympic Champion, and EvgenyMarchenko, World Champion, moved to Plano, Texas with a dream to build the finest Olympic caliber gymnastics training facility in the world.

Born in Kazakhstan, Liukin became involved in gymnastics at an early age achieving a great deal of success in a short period of time.

By 1985, he was the USSR All-Around Champion and had the privilege of representing his country in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. At the 1988 Olympic Games, Liukin’s team won the gold medal on the high bar, the silver medal on the parallel bars and finished the all-around competition with a silver medal.

Marchenko was also born in Kazakhstan and moved to Latvia at age 19. Although his height was considered less than ideal for the sport of gymnastics, Marchenko’s drive and determination soon brought him to the top of the sport of Sport Acrobatics. He has two World Championship titles to his credit and three World Cup Championships.

On April 30, 1994, the gym hosted it’s grand opening celebration. Helping to commemorate the event were Nadia Comanechi, World and Olympic Champion, Bart Conner, World and Olympic Champion, Bela Karolyi, world-renowned gymnastics coach, and World and Olympic Champions Kim Zmeskal, Betty Okino and Hillary Girvich. The gym opened with sixteen women’s team members and four men’s team members.

The beautiful 30,000 square foot gymnastics facility is fully air-conditioned, completely equipped with the latest gymnastics training equipment and is regarded as one of the cleanest and safest facilities in the World.

The gym’s exceptional coaching staff includes numerous Olympic and World Champions, and there are currently over 180 gymnasts on the competitive team. Through the hard work of these coaches and gymnasts, WOGA has won nearly every state and gymnastics title, including Junior National Elite Champion. Continuing our success, we began training our first International Elite gymnasts in 1998. The combined efforts of the coaches, gymnasts, supporters and parents have made WOGA one of the largest and most successful competitive teams in the United States of America.