I love to shop. Clothes, electronics, and I love jewelry, especially yellow gold.

I never had one day that I didn't want to be on the ice, because I always had an objective for that day. I had a rigorous plan and schedule in place that I had to adhere to. It was a step-by-step process of slowly but surely inching toward the Olympic Games and using every day as a series of goals to be accomplished.

My mantra has always been to have zero regrets in life. Everything I do at one speed, I go all-out.

When you are at the Olympic Games, it comes down to a ten thousandth of a hair between making the next round or winning a race or getting second or third.

With speed skating, it's like doing one-legged squats over and over again, with that one leg absorbing more than 80 percent of your weight. It takes an enormous amount of strength, and you're in such a weird position.

My girlfriend has been the ice.

When you reach that competing point, when you reach that time when the gun is about to go off, everyone's level is pretty much the same. The one thing that's going to separate you from everybody else is how you deal with those pressures, how you stay relaxed.