Kristi Yamaguchi Quotes

They say, once you have a child, your heart is forever outside your body. I totally understand that now.

In terms of my career, having the gold definitely changed my life. The Olympics are different, you know? They're every four years and it's such a small group.

I didn't want to skate for someone else or for certain marks.

I've had a lot more fun with the training.

An athlete gains so much knowledge by just participating in a sport. Focus, discipline, hard work, goal setting and, of course, the thrill of finally achieving your goals. These are all lessons in life.

There are two or three performances in your life that are absolutely on, where all the planets are lined up for you and you feel you're invincible.

I burnt myself out of skating. I was ready to focus on being a mom.

Winning in women's singles felt surreal. I felt that everything I had done - the hard work, the tough times - was all worth it.

As a teenager especially, I just wanted to do my thing and not be noticed.

Training for the Olympics was a lifelong endeavor and took many years.

I never wanted to feel I hadn't worked hard enough.

The skaters a lot of times do their own hair and makeup before they compete. That was always kind of a ritual ... that calming, quiet time where you can just do your hair and makeup. And then I would always lace up my right skate before my left one.

I feel like I missed out on the regular high school social life, but that's the way I chose to be.

My experience at the 1992 Winter Olympics was my fulfillment of dreaming the Impossible Dream.

I'm kind of a homebody. My husband says I like to just stay home and do nothing, but that's just how I am.

I don't mind the sparkle - I think it's kind of a tradition in skating. I don't think the men really need sparkles, but for the women it's part of the glamour of our sport.

I always try to start out with some type of goal. Then I work backward and think of what I need to do to get there, and give myself smaller goals that are more immediate.

Being an athlete, you know how to train and prepare your body for a performance and you're able to do it under pressure.

Searching for funds to continue my skating career when I was 17, I called the Women's Sports Foundation in New York. The intern who answered the phone suggested that I might be a great candidate for the Travel and Training fund, and she sent me an application form. I applied for a grant. With the funds I was awarded, I bought a new pair of skates and a plane ticket to the 1988 National Championships, where I achieved my highest national finish. Four years later, I won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games.

I've always worked closely with the designers and whoever's making the costumes. Comfort is the last thing you want on your mind when you're competing. In an ideal situation, you'll have something where you'll put it on and you're fine and you don't have to worry about it at all.

At 6 years old, the ice became a place for me to express myself. Because I was so shy off the ice, it became my safe haven, with music and freedom and self-expression. That was my emotional outlet.

I learned to put 100 percent into what you're doing. I learned about setting goals for yourself, knowing where you want to be and taking small steps toward those goals. I learned about adversity and how to get past it.

I'm a perfectionist.

The good feeling I get from contributing rivals anything I felt on the Olympic stand in Albertville.

Childhood reading is so important.

Probably a few weeks after I was born I started having casts put on my legs to straighten them out. After that corrective shoes and with a brace in between.

With 30,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations from the seasonal flu, those numbers are certainly higher than what we've seen of the swine flu. Protecting yourself from both viruses is very important.

Dorothy Hamill was my big idol as a kid. She'd won the Olympics in 1976. She was America's sweetheart with her personality, her talent, her haircut.

Growing up as an athlete, I started skating very young. My parents didn't know anything about the sport, so they went with the flow. I had two great coaches who gave great advice and gave guidelines for my parents. My parents let the coaches dictate what was going on on the ice.

This experience has been once in a lifetime.

I'd try to channel my nervous energy in a positive way into strength and endurance. It didn't always work.

Every day, someone realizes a dream. I believe dreams help light our darkness and give us the push we need to move across the rink of life.