The greatest memory for me of the 1984 Olympics was not the individual honors, but standing on the podium with my teammates to receive our team gold medal.
I wasn't really expecting me to win the gold in this race. To get another medal for myself and for the U.S. was a pretty good thing to happen, I'd say.
Gold medals are made out of your sweat, blood and tears, and effort in the gym every day, and sacrificing a lot.
When you've won a gold medal and you're at the top of your sport, everyone's trying to beat you. I find that incredibly motivating.
It took me time to realize that the men who won Olympic gold medals in the decathlon are just men, just like me.
I was blessed with a long career where I won gold medals for myself and my country. Nothing stands out as a disappointment.
The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.
I wouldn't say that there's ever been an Olympic champion that didn't deserve to win an Olympic Gold Medal.
I won eight gold medals that day. I was like Michael Phelps, except I was the only person competing in all those events. Still, I count the number of golds, not the number of competitors.
As a teenager I had no idea that I had the potential to win an Olympic gold medal and my athletic career developed only by lucky circumstances.
Being gay has nothing to do with the three gold medals or the three MVPs or the four championships I've won. I'm still the same person. I'm Sheryl.
My goal is to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games, and I'll fight and continue going until I do that.
Over the years, I've made many sacrifices to win two Olympic gold medals and put together winning streaks that will never be broken.
Yes, winning the gold medal was undoubtedly the biggest day of my career - mostly because I won the way I had prepared to run it. It was a totally satisfying experience.
That's the awesome part. Little girls now have a chance to look up and see women playing soccer, basketball, softball and now hockey - and know they can win a gold medal, too.
I hoped to win a medal and hoped it would be gold. I knew I was good but didn't know I would be the one to score something that had never been done before.
Joe Frazier's life didn't start with Ali. I was a Golden Gloves champ. Gold medal in Tokyo '64. Heavyweight champion of the world long before I fought Ali in the Garden.
When I decided to go for four gold medals I planned it out over a few years. It was in four different events and there was a lot to it.
I've learned that winning isn't everything, and it's more about the journey. But at the end of the day, I just want to stand on the podium with the gold medal.
It took putting one foot in front of the other every single day to get through it to the point where I made it back on the team and won a gold medal in 2008.
Actually, I always dreamed about getting a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle in Olympic swimming. I always thought that would be the epic award in sports to get.
