If you want me to swim fast, you have to let me enjoy my life.

I have kids. Unbeknownst to them, they are quick to snap me back to reality when I start feeling the pressure of being an athlete! It's a breath of fresh air to have two people to focus on; their happiness erases all the pressures I have on myself.

In swimming, everyone calls me grandma, because I'm the oldest there. Then with my friends, I'm the youngest and I'm the baby. It's definitely bizarre.

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

I always tell people, I'm a better swimmer because I'm a mom and a better mom because I'm swimmer.

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.

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.