I always look back to my first Olympic medal in 2004 in Athens. I was very new to the sport, and it was my first big win at the Olympics.
Former Olympians also get paid to make appearances. Many of them won their medals in an era when Olympic success didn't go hand-in-hand with financial success.
Honestly, it's not the medals that I feel so proud of. It's the way I conducted myself as an athlete, the hard work that I put forward.
They don’t give Olympic medals out for talking a good game.
Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh.
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.
I think if I am to win an Olympic medal I'll have to score like I did today.
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 hope I can compete in one or two Olympics in my career. Of course I would like to win a medal, but just being there would be awesome.
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.
The medals of the dead heroes are the coins for the future. (Les médailles des héros morts - Sont les pièces pour l'avenir.)
The champions of liberty have the medal for any necklace. (Les champions de la liberte - Ont la médaille pour tout collier)
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.
From a personal point of view I want some medals because that is what you aim for when you start out playing.