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.

Yeah, I am a little bit, and I think it is a natural progression of the sport, of going upwards in technical ability and everything like that.

A really important part of competition is coming back, trying to do it better the second time than you did the first.

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.

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.

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

If I had never won a single medal, I'd still be skating in a rink somewhere. There wouldn't be an audience or camera flashes or autograph seekers, but I'd still be skating.