First and foremost I am an American athlete and I am proud to live in a country that encourages diversity, openness and tolerance.

Sasha gets a raw deal from the press. She makes one mistake in her program and people rip her for not pulling it off when it counts. But she never falls apart. She never just completely folds and misses everything. Usually it's just one mistake.

I have to consider my greatest accomplishments winning the Olympics because everything that Ive done after that is really because of the Olympics.

Plus the public's attention span is so short right now, if a skater doesn't strike while the iron is hot... well it's not like people will forget you, but they just won't care anymore.

Kat and I were in our 20s when we won in '88. Our personalities were already established. We were ready to move on to a life of professional skating.

From an athlete's perspective, to cancel the Olympics in regards to the threats would be absolutely devastating - especially since the Olympics - it's really about people meeting together through sports and putting aside their countries' differences for that time.

I love skating. I love the speed, the power, the excitement, the feeling that --- even for just a moment --- I can defy gravity and fly through the air. And I love the way that a great skating performance, like any work of art, can move an audience to laughter or tears.