Nastia Liukin was 18 when she took home a gold medal and four other medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and etched her name into the Team USA history books.
Recalling her only appearance at the Olympics, Liukin told Fox News Digital in a recent interview that wearing the stars and stripes was “revealing in a lot of different ways.”
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Nastia Liukin of the United States, winner of one gold medal, three silver medals and one bronze medal in artistic gymnastics at the Beijing Olympics, poses at Prince Yun's Palace on August 20, 2008, in Beijing. (Scott Halleran/Getty Images for VISA)
“I think for me, it was always something I dreamed of,” Liukin said. “I remember watching the Atlanta Games and seeing the [Magnificent Seven] I walked into the Georgia Dome and at that age I didn't really understand what it was. I knew it was something my father did, that he had four medals, but I didn't really understand what it was. I just knew it was a sport that I loved and that they showed it on television and that I wanted to be like them.
“I think the older I got and the more I fell in love with the sport and the more passionate I was about it, the more I wanted to do it. I wanted to wear red, white and blue with the American flag on my sleeve and on my leotard, on my warm-up jacket.”
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Nastia Liukin of the United States, left, her teammate Shawn Johnson, center, and Cheng Fei of China show off their medals after the balance beam final at the Beijing Olympics on August 19, 2008. (Nelson Ching/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Liukin said the more she turned her attention to gymnastics and eventually the Olympics, the less she focused on winning medals and more on the meaning of being an American Olympian.
“I think in order to achieve that goal, it wasn't so much about winning a gold medal, of course, and five medals is incredible, [and] “It's something I'm proud of, but it's not so much about the end result, it's about the feeling of being in the Olympics and representing something and being part of something much bigger than yourself,” she told Fox News Digital.
“You represent an entire nation. It's a lot of pressure. There are a lot of expectations. But I remember, and I still remember, that I take that pressure with great pride and also with the responsibility of trying to make the whole country proud.”
Liukin, who spoke to Fox News Digital on behalf of her partnership with Ancestry, said she will always remember her teammates and that this is a special moment for her.
Liukin retired from the sport after failing to make the 2012 Olympic team.
Nastia Liukin attends the Beverly Hills Dog Show at the Los Angeles County Fairplex on February 29, 2020 in Pomona, California. (Sarah Morris/Getty Images)
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She said she's looking forward to watching Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee and the rest of Team USA at the 2024 Paris Games.
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