I hoped to win a medal and hoped it would be gold. I knew I was good but didn't know I would be the one to score something that had never been done before.

Hard work has made it easy. That is my secret. That is why I win.

I know how to smile, I know how to laugh, I know how to play. But I know how to do these things only after I have fulfilled my mission.

When you fall, leap to your feet and try again.

I ended up in the US for a month or so, before moving to Montreal with some Romanian friends.

Of course, I grew up in Communist Romania, but I am happy to say that now our country is democratic, and prospering, since the revolution in 1989.

My parents were very loving, but disciplinarians.