Everything for me started with my love of the sport. In society we're losing the fun with kids and pushing success on them too hard. Success comes from fun.

I was able to do Classics, the U.S. national championships and the Pan American Games and feel like I improved with each meet, but I was still struggling with a lot of residual pain from the two surgeries.

I still can't believe I'm an Olympic athlete.

Were taught at such a young age that you can always be better and that youre never perfect and that youre never good enough.

I was always known as that stocky, muscular, powerful, short, athlete. People always wondered if I was on steroids, and it was because I wasn't that long and lean, flexible, artistic gymnast. It didn't affect me too much but it got to the point where I tried to be that long and lean gymnast, and it just wasn't possible.

I have a healthy lifestyle, but there's nothing you can really do to prevent from rolling an ankle or something like that.

People only see gymnastics on TV and in the Olympics at such an extreme. So it can be intimidating.