My coach, Liang Chow, had one rule while I was training for the 2008 Olympics: no skiing. I could do anything I wanted outside the gym, he said, except ski.

With literature, sometimes a book is presented in the media as being say, a Muslim story or an African story, when essentially it's a universal story which we can all relate to it, no matter what race or social background we come from

It might have been easier to retire, to say my knee couldn't handle it and let that be that. At the same time, the prospect of not being able to compete in gymnastics anymore was heartbreaking.

Injury taught me I need to learn how to face challenges.

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

If you lose the nerves, you lose the sport.

I was at the Olympic Games winning medals and I still doubted my image. I doubted what I looked like. That's sad.