My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces.

When I was going through my transition of being famous, I tried to ask God, why was I here? What was my purpose? Surely, it wasn't just to win three gold medals. There has to be more to this life than that.

But when you come from a large, wonderful family, there's always a way to achieve your goals.

I believe in me more than anything in this world.

By the time I was 12 I was challenging every boy in our neighborhood at running, jumping, everything.

What do you do after you are world-famous and nineteen or twenty and you have sat with prime ministers, kings and queens, the Pope? Do you go back home and take a job? What do you do to keep your sanity? You come back to the real world.

I had a series of childhood illnesses... scarlet fever.... pneumonia.... Polio. I walked with braces until I was at least nine years old. My life wasn't like the average person who grew up and decided to enter the world of sports.