It's a level of strength and character that few of us can imagine; a grace under pressure that few of us will ever attain. It's why an Olympic gold medal would not have made us love or admire her more.

When I was on the ice, in the lights, with the music and the motion, there was a certain kind of flirtation that gave great energy and expressiveness to my performance.

I think exercise tests us in so many ways, our skills, our hearts, our ability to bounce back after setbacks. This is the inner beauty of sports and competition, and it can serve us all well as adult athletes.

As a young child, I played the violin. I think that that started the spark

The first thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else. It has to be yours.

Giving life to music through skating was something I wanted to be known for

Then came the choreography... the impact of music and choreography tends to really emphasize an overall feeling of what you really want out of the program.