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.

In group lesson number six I think we learned how to turn backwards and then just kind of wiggle. That wasn't really skating backward, but I guess I was going in the right direction.

In my teen years leading up to the Olympics, I loved having the excuse to skip out on parties because of skating. Partying wasnt my thing anyway. Mostly I hung out with other skaters. We were all buddies, so its not like I missed out on socializing. I was really enjoying myself.

To be the world's best, you have to beat the world's best.

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

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

I was a bratty little sister. I was the youngest of three, and I often felt as though I didn't fit in.