My father is 100% Japanese and came to the United States when he was only 18 years old. My grandmother still resides in Japan, which has allowed me to travel to the roots of my ancestors with my father.

The older I get, the more and more I notice I'm like my father. It's funny, because when I was younger I tried to just back away from my father as much as I could, and some of the philosophies, some of the life lessons, some of the beliefs that he had within me are always constantly ongoing, and they're always prevalent in my life, whether it's trying to be every single thing that I can be in my sport or life or relationship or business, whatever avenue I'm pursuing.

You can't dwell on what happened. You can't live even a moment stewing in bitterness.

Every Olympic athlete prepares differently. For me, I am 100 percent into the sport. And if I decide to really make a crucial career decision to say, 'This is something I want to do,' I want to leave no stone unturned in my preparation.

Who cares if somebody dances better? Doing my very best is rewarding internally.

I think that Subway has shown their own personal commitment as a company and how they believe in healthy choices.

Winning does not always mean coming in first...real victory is in arriving at the finish line with no regrets because you know you've gone all out.