I believe in playing with your heart, with every fiber in your body-fairly, squarely, by the rules-to win. And I believe that any man's finest moment, the greatest fulfillment of all he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out and lies exhausted on the floor of battle-victorious.

The rest of the world laughed at American gymnastics before I came.

Success depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice, how much you are willing to alter your everyday life for a particular goal.

In gymnastics, smaller will always be better in many ways. The stress in the head, that will be the same for all. But the stress on the body and the concussions it must endure, that will always be easier for the little ones.

I am very familiar with Hungary, because I grew up in Romania, which borders it.

This team just wasn't good enough today, but they had the unity I always wanted. To have an American team like this has always been a dream of mine.

I consider myself very lucky that I could live my life through all the ups and downs.