No competition, no progress.

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

The Olympics shows the community what gymnastics is all about.

Back in Romania, always I was struggling to compete with Vladislav Rastorotsky, the great Russian coach of Lyudmila Turishcheva. He was a powerful coach, internationally. I took him like the major challenge of my life, and pretty soon I'm beating him and we are pushing each other so hard, so fierce. But out of the arena, we are friends.

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

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

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