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.

My mother stopped working when she had my brother. She was a full time mom until I started getting heavily into ice skating lessons, and it got to the point where they really needed my mom to earn an income.

There were no competitions on television. The first skating competition I ever remember seeing on television was the 1968 Olympics when Peggy Fleming won.

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.

I wouldn't say that there's ever been an Olympic champion that didn't deserve to win an Olympic Gold Medal.

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

I wanted to learn how to skate backwards and they wouldn't help me and they went off and left me on my own.