Id go to swim practice, put my face in the water, and I didnt have to talk to anybody. Swimming was like my escape, but it was also like this huge prison because I felt like I had to swim up to peoples standards.

My performance has improved dramatically from yoga and meditation. No athlete ever dominated by sticking to one sport all the time.

When people say to me, 'You're like the Anna Kournikova who wins,' I definitely take it as a compliment, because she's quite gorgeous.

I know that I do deserve good things.

Obviously, the competitor in you, you want to be in the top three every time in the pool.

I concentrate on preparing to swim my race and let the other swimmers think about me, not me about them.

People wanted to be friends with me for not the right reasons. They'd introduce me to somebody else as the Olympian or the swimmer. I didn't want to stand out. I wanted to blend in.