You can only look forward to a South Dakota winter if, as with childbirth, remodeling a house, or writing a novel, you're able to forget how bad it was the last time.

I always know where the scissors are.

As a young athlete, it was first about having fun; then it was about winning.

As a young child, I was never a crier. I never cried to get my way, or even when I was in pain.

It really means a lot that I won the gold medal - but I woke up the next morning expecting to feel different. I felt the same.

You need to become more than one type of athlete. You have to be a sprinter, a weight man and a distance guy all in one.

I was a good decathlete until I got with a coach that really knew how to train specifically for the event... I'd really describe it as like being a juggler; you have ten balls and you're trying to get them all in the air at the same time.