I feel honored and privileged to have represented the USA program over the past 16 years. USA Hockey will always be a part of me and I will cherish the experiences and memories with this team.
I'm not playing for lack of options. But this is such a fleeting thing. When I'm done, I'm never, ever going to be able to come back to it. I know Vancouver is my last go.
An athlete who tells you the training is always easy and always fun simply hasn't been there. Goals can be elusive which makes the difficult journey all the more rewarding.
Early in my career I was accused of being overconfident and even cocky, but I really was confident that I had done the training and didn't see any other reason to say otherwise.
I got a custom-made silk dress from a Chinese tailor for really cheap. I sketched it out on a piece of paper, and they took my measurements and made the dress for me in a day!
The N.B.A. is not an easy job. As you get older, you play this game for 82 games a year, and you play 11 or 12 years, your body tends to break down.
I have been aware since my youth that I am a Hebrew through my mother, and that is something that has played a subtle but important role in my development.
When I step out onto the ice to compete 'Romeo and Juliet,' I don't feel like a fighter. I feel very nervous, and it's very difficult for me to get into the mindset for it.
I had always dreamed of being an Olympian, and something clicked inside of me. I knew I had to move to Salt Lake City and make this dream a reality.
The holidays are important, but the path I've chosen doesn't take that into consideration. I do what I can to enjoy them, but it's one of the sacrifices of being an athlete.
You take yourself to a place where you've got absolutely nothing left and then you find out you have to push yourself one more step. That's a tough place to be in.
There is in each person, in every animal, bird and plant a star which mirrors, matches or is in some sense the same as a star in the heavens.
I didn't want to be like everyone else. I wanted to be better. If I did what everybody else did, then why would you look up to me? Why would I set an example?
During a moment of silence I close my eyes tight and let the birds take me. When I opened my eyes I saw her.
Then came night that was like falling water. At times, for hours, a bird spirit, half buzzard, half swan, just above the rushes from which a snow-storm howls.
Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.
In my opinion we are at the limit now, and 17 races is really too much. With all the testing that we do now, it means we're always on the bike and it's quite difficult.
I was lucky. My father raced bikes. He gave me the passion very early. I had my first bike when I was three or four years old.
My father raced bikes. He gave me the passion very early. I had my first bike when I was three or four years old.
When I rise up let me rise up joyful like a bird. When I fall let me fall without regret like a leaf.
Whenever I heard the song of a bird and the answering call of its mate, I could visualize the notes in scale, all built up within my consciousness as a natural symphony.
