Valeri Liukin was upset with his newest student, Andrea Orris, almost immediately.

“We had a rough start,” Orris recalled.

It was 1999, and Orris had just joined the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, the about to be internationally renowned Plano, Texas, gym co-founded and co-owned by Liukin, an Olympic and world champion for the Soviet Union.

Orris, then 11, had been accepted into WOGA in part because of her ability to do a relatively difficult skill into a handstand. But now training at WOGA she was having difficulty replicating the move and Liukin was enraged, Orris said.

“I was a liar, I was lying, he told me I was dishonest, I was lying to get into his gym,” Orris said in a recent interview with the Southern California News Group, recalling Liukin’s comments to her at the time. “It was very intense. He didn’t yell but he was very angry.”

Eventually, the relationship was repaired. Liukin liked Orris’ attitude and work ethic, she said. Orris in turn was devoted to her world famous coach, and trusted him.

So when Liukin offered her some advice about her weight when she was 12, Orris wasted no time following it. She eventually developed an eating disorder that at one point would require hospitalization with heart damage and doctor-ordered bed rest, and led to body dysmorphic disorder that continues to impact her more than 20 years later.

Orris was struggling with an uneven bars skill.

“Valeri said, ‘You know why you’re falling? You’ve gained three or five more pounds on your butt,’” Orris said. “But he said, ‘That’s OK. There are ways to work with that and change that.

“(Liukin said) ‘It’s not a bad thing to go to bed hungry,’” Orris continued, recounting the advice he gave her. “‘Three nights before a competition do not eat dinner and you will feel very light.

“‘And start weighing yourself.’”

Orris was 4-feet-8, to 4-10 at the time. “Might not have even been 70 pounds,” she said.

It didn’t…