When people say that kids change your life, it's no small feat what they do. I've stressed about competition my whole life, but the minute I held my son Blaise in my arms for the first time, those stresses diminished.

Breaking composure, confidence, and speed in the water makes you lose the race, not the goggles that fell off your head when you dove in.

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

I'm a firm believer in slowing down to improve my state of mind when I'm training, and yoga and meditation have been paramount to my success in this way.

Sometimes success is simply being willing to give it your all.

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.

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