It can't be any simpler: the farewell is going to be on the Champs-Elysees.

I've read that I flew up the hills and mountains of France. But you don't fly up a hill. You struggle slowly and painfully up a hill, and maybe, if you work very hard, you get to the top ahead of everybody else.

Two things scare me. The first is getting hurt. But that's not nearly as scary as the second, which is losing.

My mom was such a strong character. I don't want to say she was like a man, but she was tough.

It's tough to be a 15- or 16-year-old athlete competing around the country. There's tension, there's media. I had no idea what I was getting into.

A boo is a lot louder than a cheer, if you have 10 people cheering and one person booing, all you hear is the booing.

I can get up in the morning and look myself in the mirror and my family can look at me too and that's all that matters.