As a young child, I played the violin. I think that that started the spark.
When I was on the ice, in the lights, with the music and the motion, there was a certain kind of flirtation that gave great energy and expressiveness to my performance.
The ultimate goal should be doing your best and enjoying it.
The first thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else. It has to be yours.
Love your sport. Never do it to please someone else; it has to be yours. That is all that will justify the hard work. Compete against yourself, not others, for that is who is truly your best competition.
It’s a level of strength and character that few of us can imagine; a grace under pressure that few of us will ever attain. It’s why an Olympic gold medal would not have made us love or admire her more.
I think exercise tests us in so many ways, our skills, our hearts, our ability to bounce back after setbacks. This is the inner beauty of sports and competition, and it can serve us all well as adult athletes.
Giving life to music through skating was something I wanted to be known for.
I really loved what the guys were doing more than anything, how high they jumped, how effortless it was.
I think skating helped me find myself.
We Wanted to be Achievers, But Being an Achievers didn’t Mean That You Stopped Being a Woman.
When the going got tough, I really had to draw on many of the same competitive instincts I did when I was skating. I really had to put my head down and stay positive. I had to fight.
This is another kind of competition, but I’m being coached by an excellent team, and I’ve got a real strong competitive spirit.
Skating was the vessel into which I could pour my heart and soul.
In 1968, in the midst of the tumultuous 1960s, the Olympics were much more than just another event.
My sport taught me what I could do with my talents, whether in the rink or in the rest of my life.