I love athletics. As an athlete, I like to believe I can still do the things I used to do when I was once young.
I was always falling in and out of love. I was engaged when I was 16 to the first guy I ever dated, but my father told him I was too young.
I'm really looking forward to just concentrating on the swimming part now instead of what's going on with me outside the pool.
I attacked my cancer diagnosis the same way I attack training and competing, and that's pretty fearless.
I was blessed with a long career where I won gold medals for myself and my country. Nothing stands out as a disappointment.
I didn't get nervous when I ran, but I get nervous watching other people now. I root for anybody with a USA on their chest.
I've been able to play a kid up to this point and pretend that I'm not a grown-up - well, at least for two hours a night!
Wanting more majors, wanting more wins, almost feels like I think I'm being too greedy.
Sometimes you have to resist working on your strengths in favour of your weaknesses. The decathlon requires a wide range of skills.
When you're walking into the stadium, you just say to yourself, 'the 100m is the same anywhere, the shot put is the same weight anywhere.'
People tend to like an athlete's performance, but if you don't get a feeling for the individual, you're not very emotive about them.
Just because you didn't start out perfect doesn't mean you can't have an excellent result in the end.
I can think. I can sleep. I can move. I can ride my bike. I can dream.
I always wear my evil eye necklace to ward off bad karma. I always wear one to protect me.
I was keenly aware when I was drafted, when I signed my first contract; immediately, I was thinking about the end.
The man who has allowed his body to deteriorate cuts a pitiful figure - chest collapsed, stomach protruding.
If all human lives depended upon their usefulness - as might be judged by certain standards - there would be a sudden and terrific mortality in the world.
If your body is damaged, wounded, it can be fixed, but if inside, mentally, you are wounded you cannot fix it, it's hard.
Shawn Michaels is a born-again Christian, but inside he's the same old Shawn Michaels. He hasn't changed a bit.
Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.
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.
