As simple as it sounds, we all must try to be the best person we can: by making the best choices, by making the most of the talents we've been given.

Getting to know athletes from all over the planet is a big part of the Olympic experience.

Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.

Training for the Olympics was much easier than balancing my life now! When practice was over, there was time for me. But with four kids and a career, I have no downtime. When I'm not on the road, I finish my workday at 2:30 p.m. Then I pick the kids up from school and they get 100 percent Mommy, not part Mommy and part Mary Lou Retton.

As a kid, I was a pretty good little sprinter.

Working hard becomes a habit, a serious kind of fun.

I'm very determined and stubborn. There's a desire in me that makes me want to do more and more, and to do it right. Each one of us has a fire in our heart for something. It's our goal in life to find it and to keep it lit.