Our family life, before figure skating turned it upside down, seemed normal. Our town of Riverside, Connecticut, was part of Greenwich, and we had the advantage of their wonderful community, with great beaches and beautiful parks.

I always had the sense that nothing was never good enough - striving for perfection. My mother and I had a sort of typical mother-daughter relationship.

I was just ice skating. I had no concept of that. In those days you couldn't see the judges. I was this little person on the ice and they were just people that would stand around the boards.

You see the fairy tale - four minutes of glory at the Olympics. I thought my life would be cake after that.

I think I dreamed about competing at the Olympics, maybe hoping to win a gold medal. Not that I ever thought that I would, but I dreamed about it.

I worked as hard as I could. I was always the first one on the ice, and the last one off.

If you are a complete perfectionist, then the truth is that this ice skating business will drive you a little crazy!