Since my mother is an extremely devoted Christian Orthodox woman, she prayed a great deal and taught me how to pray.

I learned to take those experiences that were difficult in my life and in the adversity that I had overcome to use it for a positive change.

It's human nature to be timid in the face of obstacles, but I have learned to believe that challenges are opportunities for genius to shine. In order to feel alive, we have to accomplish things that we once believed we could not.

I had this sister that was born who was given up for adoption, and I never knew it.

We need to educate our elite coaches more and have a better approach to teaching the athletes about how to be healthy rather than berate them, humiliate them, use tactics that could scar them for life.

I was 26 years old when I found out that I had a sister who I never knew existed.

In my very first interview, at nine years old, I said I wanted to be an Olympic gold medalist. That was the first time I said it out loud in front of somebody other than my parents.