Nastia Liukin at the "Frosted Pink With a Twist" event (women's cancer benefit) held in San Diego, California on September 14th, 2008. Photo: Jamie Lantzy.

Olympic gymnast, Nastia Liukin is one of the performers on NBC’s Skating & Gymnastic Spectacular airing on the network today (4:00 p.m. ET).

Though she’s currently in training for another Olympic run, Liukin was eager to accept the televised gig.

“It’s really neat because it’s the only show that combines gymnastics and skating in one arena, on one night,” she points out. “And we also have a musical act and (the Country Music group) Lonestar was our musical act this year. So, we were able to perform our opening and closing number to them singing live.”

And while Liukin admits she’s no skater and mostly sticks to her skills as a gymnast, she could very well surprise her fans with a bit of fancy ice work.

“In the finally, I did possibly put on skates. You’ll have to watch that,” she teases. “It’s really neat because everybody’s always wondering how you can do gymnastics on the ice. Well, it’s on the ice rink and we have the floor at one of the ends of the arena and there a beam on one end and there’s a high bar in the middle. The skaters are kind of skating in-between us.”

Liukin’s a pro, but she confesses that it took more than a little effort to stay on task with so much going on around her as she performed on the ice.

“You know, it can get a little distracting if you’re on the balance beam and you see a skater go by. You immediately want to turn your head, but you’ve got to stay focused on the beam.”

We’re guessing Liukin holds her own.

Posted by Mari Cartel