Gold Medalist Nastia Liukin 'Created a Sisterhood' With Her 2008 Olympic Teammates: 'It Really Is Special'

Nastia Liukin knows all too well what its like to be part of the Olympics, as she won five medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, more than any other gymnast at the Games.

Now that the athlete is retired, she fortunately still has an unbreakable bond with her teammates, including Shawn Johnson, Chellsie Memmel, Samantha Peszek, Alicia Sacramone and Bridget Sloan.

"I'm so excited for the athletes to be able to experience it at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It's something that changes your life forever, regardless of the results. Leaving with a gold medal is incredible and something you'll be proud of forever, but it's more so the other things you learn along the way on the journey and just being there. I'm an only child, so you create this sisterhood with your teammates, and you have that for the rest of your life. Friends come and go in and out of your life, but our Olympic team is like a family. I think we can all probably say this about each other — but if someone called us and needed something, we would stop, drop and roll, and I think that's really special," the 34-year-old, who is partnering with Ancestry, inviting people to discover how their traits match up to elite champions with a new interactive DNA Compare experience: Bring Your DNA Game, exclusively tells OK!.

"Having this bond is nothing I've ever experienced, especially since I don't have siblings," she continues.

Though everyone is in different places all over the country, the girls do a good job of staying in touch. "We try to get together and do dinners, and if there's a competition or an event where someone lives, we'll go to their house. It really is special. The last time we were all together was last summer at Nationals, and I think it was the first time all of us were together since 2008. We were at this huge table, with everybody's spouses or significant others and everyone got to meet each other," she recalls. "As adults, it was the first time we were all together. I was crying, people were sharing how proud they were of each other. We would laugh about stuff we did at 16 years old. It was really fun. We were like, 'OK, can we not wait 15 years to do this again?' It was cool. I was not in a sorority, but it feels similar. You're part of something that's bigger than yourself. It's cool to be able to have people in your life that you can connect with and rely on."

This year, the blonde beauty will be headed to Paris for the Olympics, and she's excited to cheer on the ladies — and see Simone Biles return. "I'm just so proud of the person she's grown into — she's taken everything with such grace, especially with the amount of pressure and stress and expectations she has on her. Nobody will quite understand, not even myself, but she's handled it so well," she shares of Biles, who withdrew from the 2020 Games while dealing with the "twisties," a certain mental block in gymnastics.

Biles, 27, spoke out about mental health at the time and now she's ready to make her comeback. "She doesn't have to go back, but she wants to. I keep saying it doesn't matter what happens in Paris. She's already the greatest gymnast, in my opinion, of all time," she gushes. "Mental health was never talked about before, and by her opening up to the entire world and sharing that it's OK to not be OK and take care of yourself, it set the bar so high for so many generations to continue to share and be vulnerable and open. I also don't think a lot of people realize how challenging and difficult that is when you go through something like that."

Liukin applauds Biles for being such a great role model. "I have a lot of admiration for the way she handled everything. I'm excited to see what happens in Paris. I love that she's coming back on her own terms, which is really important. She's already created her own legacy," she says.

The Russia native advises Biles to try to let go and not worry about the results. "I look back and I wanted to rush through things. I had a countdown on my bed marking down the days until it was the end. For many, it's a long process. You're exhausted mentally, physically, emotionally, but I wish I could go back and be more present."

Just in time for the Olympics, Liukin, who is ready for this next chapter of her life, is thrilled to be partnering with Ancestry to find out more about her background and what makes up the DNA of a champion.

The brand is analyzing 30 new AncestryDNA performance traits to answer the question: is it training or is it traits? Lukin is one of several world-class athletes — including Gabby Douglas, Kerri Walsh-Jennings, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Brad Snyder — who submitted DNA for analysis.

"My whole life I've semi-joked about the fact that both of my parents, Valeri Liukin and Anna Kotchneva, are world champion gymnasts. I've always said, 'I obviously have good genes for the sport.' Now being able to see the results and see how it's actually true is awesome. I always said I'm a split image of my mom and dad, and the results confirmed that. I've always been a little taller than my other teammates, so I've been more flexible and quick but not fast at running. What I realized was that it wasn't just by chance," she explains of the results. "Being able to do this test was so mind-boggling to me because I always had to work so hard on my strength and now I can compare my results to other athletes in other sports. When watching, you think, 'Are they just talented or born with this?'"

"For instance, vault was my worst event, and in any part of training and conditioning, I had to double or triple the amount only because that was my weakness. But with the flexibility aspect, I didn't have to do much because it was something that came more naturally to me. It was interesting being able to see all the results. With the Olympics coming up, it will be cool to see how talented so many different athletes are — but in different ways. Gymnasts versus volleyball players versus a sprinter. It's cool to see how much of that is the superhero in them or how much of it is hard work."

Since Liukin was always interested in taking a test, teaming up with Ancestry was a no-brainer. "Anyone can do it! Doing it with your friends is also kind of cool and you get to know each other even better," she shares.

As for what surprised her, Liukin, who is an optimist, says she had to train herself to be that way. "It's interesting you can shift your mentality and muscle memory is a real thing. Another one was the runner's high, which I'm unlikely to experience. I don't really enjoying running, so that made me feel more justified in my head!" she quips.

Now that Liukin is isn't competing, she's getting ready to jet off to Paris to cheer on her teammates. "There's nothing like an Olympics. For me, the coolest part is knowing the whole word unites for two weeks. It's just a powerful, strong, magical feeling. When you're there, you feel the excitement!" she exclaims. "We can all have an Ancestry party!"

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Everyone can check out the experience and compare their genetic traits for athleticism to world-class athletes at Ancestry.com/BringYourDNAGame.