I always thought, it would be neat to make the Olympic team.

The one thing that's common to all successful people: They make a habit of doing things that unsuccessful people don't like to do.

I'm fortunate to have an amazing, strong mother who is so supportive of everything me and my sisters did growing up - but she was someone who never forced us to go swim or to go do this or that. She helped us think about certain consequences when we needed to, but we made our own decisions. I think if I were forced to swim, I wouldn't have stayed in the pool as long as I did.

I wanted to do something nobody ever did. This goes hand in hand with my goal of changing swimming.

Being compared to Ian Thorpe, that could be one of the greatest compliments you could ever get in swimming - being compared to him and Mark Spitz.

I don't have a strict diet. It's all about cramming in as many calories into my system as I possibly can. To be honest with you, I have a tough time keeping weight on.

This is the first medal I've ever won in an international meet. For it to be gold is incredible. It feels great. I can't explain it.