One of the really important things about the Olympics is, to enjoy yourself, you have to accept that it's different and feed off the enthusiasm of everyone and the inspiration and hopefully that will elevate your performance.

At the end of the day, you have to make sure you're at least listening to what your head is telling you, what your heart is telling you. That's hard to do when there are a million other people shouting as loud as they can.

One kid's old, used-up equipment is another kid's brand-new, awesome, awesome equipment.

There's been times when I've been in really tough shape at the top of the course. Talk about a hard challenge right there. I mean, if you ever tried to ski when you're wasted, it's not easy. Try and ski a slalom when … you hit a gate less than every one a second, so it's risky, you know. You're putting your life at risk there. It's like driving drunk only there's no rules about it in ski racing.

I like to keep my private life private for the most part.

That feeling is the same whether you're on either side of the hundredths. Obviously, it's great to win the world championship, but if you put down that kind of skiing, it's awesome either way.

The way I judge myself is not on how many World Cups I can win in a row.