Athlete Quotes

From the fall of October, 1980 to March, 1984 I never lost a competition.

But I never really thought that I would be extraordinarily successful at skating, it's just something that happened, you know.

And the fact that I liked to show off and be the center of attention really lends itself to figure skating very well.

And so figure skating was a great vehicle for me to kind of be competitive at something, without having to be big.

I just try to touch people's hearts in a way through skating, so they're not just witnessing a performance, they're feeling a performance and they're a part of it.

Fame is a very confusing thing, because you are recognized by a lot of people that you've never seen before, and they're at a great advantage.

I had a ninth grade teacher who told me I was much smarter and much better than I was allowing myself to be.

Everything that I've ever been able to accomplish in skating and in life has come out of adversity and perseverance.

Always try to maintain complete tolerance and always make an effort to give people more than they expect.

The high road is always respected. Honesty and integrity are always rewarded.

Adversity, and perseverance and all these things can shape you. They can give you a value and a self-esteem that is priceless.

The only disability in life is a bad attitude.

They're still considered Olympic eligibles, so there's never an issue whether they're going to turn pro or not. When they get to that level, money is never an issue. They make so much money now.

There were no competitions on television. The first skating competition I ever remember seeing on television was the 1968 Olympics when Peggy Fleming won.

My parents didn't have a lot of money, but we never knew that. They really did the best they could.

My mother stopped working when she had my brother. She was a full time mom until I started getting heavily into ice skating lessons, and it got to the point where they really needed my mom to earn an income.

My coach was a great politician, so he did most of the work. He was good.

It's different today than it was then. In those days we were strictly amateurs. If I had wanted to stay in for the '80 Olympics, my parents couldn't have afforded it.

It was very much like Norman Rockwell: small town America. We walked to school or rode our bikes, stopped at the penny candy store on the way home from school, skated on the pond.

In group lesson number six I think we learned how to turn backwards and then just kind of wiggle. That wasn't really skating backward, but I guess I was going in the right direction.

I wouldn't say that there's ever been an Olympic champion that didn't deserve to win an Olympic Gold Medal.

I was a bratty little sister. I was the youngest of three, and I often felt as though I didn't fit in.

I wanted to learn how to skate backwards and they wouldn't help me and they went off and left me on my own.

I hated to read. My mother could not get me to read. I'm going through the same thing with my daughter now. I love to read now, but I don't remember reading.

I don't really think they saw anything in me, except the fact that I was interested in it. Some of the kids would miss a week here and miss a week there, I think they could see that I really enjoyed it.

Every time you go out on the ice, there are slight flaws. You can always think of something you should have done better. These are the things you must work on.

I was just ice skating. I had no concept of that. In those days you couldn't see the judges. I was this little person on the ice and they were just people that would stand around the boards.

I was passionate. I found something that I loved. I could be all alone in a big old skating rink and nobody could get near me and I didn't have to talk to anybody because of my shyness. It was great. I was in my fantasy world.

You're going to have to bring your 'A' game.

You dream about the Olympics for so long and you have that one day, then it's over, and when you don't run well there is this huge letdown. It took me years to deal with that. I feel like I almost had to cleanse myself of that experience.