Nastia Liukin Reflects on Olympic Success 16 Years Later: ‘It’s Something I Did, Not Who I Am’

At 34, Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin has racked up more achievements than many people reach in a lifetime. The 2008 all-around champion has five Olympic and nine World Championship medals, earned from years of hard work that she was practically destined for.

Born in Moscow to two former champion gymnasts, much of Liukin’s life was dedicated to the sport—and now she’s asking a reflective question: How much of her success comes from excellent genes, and how much comes from her own blood, sweat and tears?

In a new partnership with AncestryDNA, Liukin is promoting its Traits test kit, which analyzes a saliva sample to identify your genetic predisposition to over 30 performance traits, such as self-discipline, speed and hand-eye coordination. The test allows you to compare your results to those of world-class athletes like Liukin to see how your natural talents stack up.

Liukin shared her results with The Healthy by Reader’s Digest to chat about how she used her natural strengths to her advantage and overcame her natural weaknesses to become a champion. She also discussed the advice she has for the US women’s gymnastics team heading into the Paris 2024 Olympics and how she’s still finding joy and purpose outside of the gym.

Get The Healthy by Reader’s Digest newsletter

The Healthy: This is such a neat partnership! As an athlete, taking cues from your body and learning its language must be especially important. Looking at your traits, one example that jumped out at me was that you have a “lower pain tolerance.” Can you talk about how you’ve learned to listen to your body to honor something like that and how when to push yourself?

Nastia Liukin: Yeah, that’s actually a really great question. It was always essential. My dad was my coach, and both my parents were Olympic and world-champion gymnasts. I guess I always kind of thought I had some pretty good genes. 

But in terms of the pain and injuries, my dad was always very adamant about taking care of your body and that gymnastics is just a short time of your life. So I was always listening to my body and instilling the importance of if something started hurting, tell them right away before it became more serious. So yeah, I guess you don’t realize many of these things. After seeing these traits, many were super eye-opening, and then there was a lot that I was like, “That makes total sense.”

The Healthy: It’s so interesting!

Nastia Liukin: I know! And I think it’s cool because anybody can do it, so anybody can log onto the website and order a kit, and you can compare it with your friends or with other athletes from all over the world, which is, I think, so cool because you always wonder, “Is it something they were born with?” We place athletes almost on this pedestal of being superheroes at times. It’s really interesting to take a step back and realize maybe which part of it is this God-given talent, essentially your DNA, and what part of it is just hard work or pushing through what they’re not supposed to be good at, [such as] me on vault. It was just very, very cool to see.

The Healthy: Absolutely. A big part of being able to reflect on where our natural weaknesses lie is seeing where we might need to put in more of that effort. For example, another trait listed for you is that you’re “less naturally strong,” though obviously, you put a lot of work into your strength. Many people might be discouraged if they’re not naturally talented at something. How do you get in the mindset to develop a skill that feels daunting?

Nastia Liukin: Well, the strength part, especially, I always knew that if I wanted to achieve the goals that I wanted to achieve, then I had to put in the work. On the other hand, flexibility came a lot more naturally to me, and I don’t have to spend as much time on flexibility to this day. However, the strength aspect of everything has always been the most challenging. Even gaining muscle for me is a lot more difficult than for others. 

For it not to be daunting, you have to know what your goals are and understand what you want. If it’s something that you really want to achieve and succeed at, then you have to block that daunting feeling out. Another trait that you have to have is the focus and ability to be a goal-setter to achieve goals and push past obstacles. 

The Healthy: I’d love to talk about the Olympics with you. We just watched the US women’s gymnastics team get named the other week, and of course, they’re gearing up for such an exciting, high-pressure time. What do you wish you could say to yourself during these moments between trials and competition in 2008? Obviously, the final result couldn’t have been better for you, but is there anything you would’ve done differently in your preparation?

Nastia Liukin: No, I don’t think so. I have always tried to live life, not just gymnastics, but life in general, without regret. And I think that going back—I mean, to be honest, we had actually had a second trial. So Shawn and I were named to the team at the Olympic Trials, and then we were told we still had to show our readiness at the second Olympic Trials, which is at a training camp. And so it was honestly not much celebrating just because we had to go to camp. Every single athlete that went to that training camp packed as if they were going to the Olympics, but half the girls went to the Olympics, and half had to go home. And so it was emotionally a little bit challenging. It’s a team sport, but it’s an individual sport. People’s dreams are coming true; people’s dreams are not coming true.

So it was a lot of different feelings all at the same time. So, to be honest, I don’t necessarily know what I would’ve done differently because all we did was train. I think there wasn’t much time to celebrate or anything. If anything, it would be just to be present and enjoy. It goes by so fast that I think just trying to take moments throughout and pause to take it in would maybe be something that I would not necessarily change but would add to my experience.

David Livingston/Getty Images

The Healthy: What about in the aftermath of the games? No matter how this team performs, what advice would you share from your experience of coming down from that Olympic high?

Nastia Liukin:  To surround yourself with the people who have and always will be in your life before and after. And to know that you’re not going to be defined by one thing, even the success that hopefully they’ll all have at the Olympics. Take advantage of the opportunities and enjoy the ride, but at the same time, know that you’re not going to be defined by it, and it’s something that you did. It’s not something that you are if that makes sense. 

The same is true for gymnastics as a whole. I always like to think gymnastics is something that I did, versus I am the gymnast. And I believe that if you’re able to take it that way and know that yes, at this moment, this is the most important thing because you have trained your whole life for it—but there’s also life beyond that, and there’s going to be many more exciting things in your life.

And you don’t necessarily have to compare those things. I think for the longest time, I tried to find something that would make me feel as fulfilled as I did at the end of a seven-hour training day. Well, newsflash, there’s nothing. There’s not going to be a feeling that exactly replicates the feeling of training seven hours a day besides training seven hours a day. And so I think if you’re able to recognize that and know that you don’t have to compare it to that, you can find other things that bring you passion and joy and fulfillment, but they don’t all have to be the same or feel the same. That, to me, was kind of eye-opening once I realized that. I think for a while, I was chasing that feeling, right? That feeling of winning and the pride that I felt in that. And it’s like you’re never going to probably feel that because representing your country at the Olympics is top of pride, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean you have to find that again. You can find other things that you can take similar pride in but on different levels.

The Healthy: We love that. Great advice. And on the note that you do gymnastics, you are not the gymnast; what else have you been up to lately? What’s next for you? 

Nastia Liukin: I just launched a pickleball collab with Recess and designed some paddles. That has been something that I’ve enjoyed doing. And it was kind of the first sport you could say that I really enjoy. I’m not an expert; I’m not even remotely great at it, but I enjoy it. And I think that was fun for me to find because I never really had something I enjoyed as much as gymnastics. 

A few other things are coming out this month that I unfortunately can’t quite announce, but coming soon! Then I will be going to Paris, so I’m looking forward to being at the games. This will be, I believe, my seventh Olympics, which is crazy. I’m just really looking forward to cheering on the team. This will be the first time that I’ll actually be able to cheer from the sidelines. I’ll still be working and doing a bunch of different things, but I think from a personal side, and a biased side, one of my parents’ athletes made the Olympic team. So I’m super excited to cheer on Team USA and just be at the Olympics. There’s no greater event, in my opinion. Again, I’m biased, but the energy and experience in Paris are wonderful. So I’m looking forward to it.

Phillip Faraone/Getty Images

The Healthy: Awesome. Is there a self-care routine that you can never skip? And I’m curious if that’s changed for you from when you were competing as an athlete.

Nastia Liukin:  Yeah, I would say when I was competing as an athlete, I would get a massage twice a week, and I wish that didn’t change. That was more of a recovery of my body than it was for self-care. And now, I don’t do as much with my actual body regarding training and conditioning. I would say it’s more mental recovery and just going on walks every single day. I do a sunset walk when I’m in California with my dog. Even if I’m in the middle of something, I always pause what I’m doing to catch the sunset and do that because it just helps me get more grounded, whether it was a stressful day, whether it was a great day, or whatever it was. I think that to me is just as important as physical recovery when I was an athlete.

• Olympic Runner Gabby Thomas Shares Her Self-Care Secrets You Can Follow—Even If You’re Not an Athlete
• Simone Biles’ Mom, Nellie, Opens Up About Managing Type 2 Diabetes: ‘I Try To Mirror Simone’
• Sha’Carri Richardson Shares the ‘Biggest Keys’ to Preparing Her Body for Her First Olympics
• Olympic Gymnast Aly Raisman on Overcoming Trauma and Feeling Healthy Today: ‘I’m Just Really Excited to Take Care of Myself’