The Olympics in '80 was phenomenal. It was my favorite memory of all competitive events, because it was brand new and it was exciting.

But I never really thought that I would be extraordinarily successful at skating, it's just something that happened, you know.

I had a ninth grade teacher who told me I was much smarter and much better than I was allowing myself to be.

I graduated a the top of my class in the '84 Olympic Games; I won a gold medal.

And the fact that I liked to show off and be the center of attention really lends itself to figure skating very well.

Always try to maintain complete tolerance and always make an effort to give people more then they expect.

Without strength and courage it's really hard to perform at the highest levels of international figure skating, because you're alone on the ice and you only have seven minutes over two nights to prove yourself.