When I go out to play, I still believe I'm as good as anyone out there. I don't have to prove anyone wrong. I know what I've done and how well I can play.
I understand what training camp is for. It's needed. It's necessary, so it's just one of those things that you have to put yourself through and it makes you better. It gets you in good shape, so it's necessary.
They got all the size over there, and the teams are really good, so, I think night after night you're just going to have to be ready to lace them up and be ready to play. The teams out there are really good.
I'm in control of what I'm doing physically and mentally. I feel good. I've always felt confident and comfortable going into seasons, but each year I feel like I'm getting better and better.
I've got to tell you right out of the chute, Ryan Howard, to me, is very interested in my input in his hitting. To me that makes me really feel good. We've chatted over the years about hitting.
I think I tried to separate indoors and out. And so when he beat me indoors, I did not see that as letting anybody down, I saw it as a good head to head competition, and so it was. It was fine.
If we had a starting XI that no one could argue about it wouldn't say a lot for English football. We'd probably be on a downward spiral. It's good that people have different ideas about who should play.
I think if you're a good high school player that you have the ability to be a good college football player. If you're a good college football then you have the ability to be a great NFL player.
I wear my Peggy Fleming T-shirt when I go to sleep every night before I compete, and for the past four years, it's brought me incredible good luck.
I miss singles terribly, but it is a choice I make because I don't feel I am good enough anymore. I don't want to be 100 odd in the world and still play for the heck of it.
I've been barefoot most of my life: either flip flops or barefoot on the pool deck. Although you'd think that would make me a good candidate for barefoot running, that doesn't work with me.
I've always talked to players about perception and reality. I don't worry about perception. There may be some of that, that people want to attach to a good name, but the reality is that some good things can happen.
Went to 16 and hit a really bad 3 wood for my second shot and got stuck in the bunker about 70 yards from the pin. Poor execution, chunked it, hit a good chip up to about eight feet, missed it.
When I say something, I want people to take it to the bank that I mean it and believe in it. It humbles me that companies want me. It's a challenge to uphold their values and make their product look good. I take that personally.
I'm not perfect. I'm never going to be. And that's the great thing about living the Christian life and trying to live by faith, is you're trying to get better every day. You're trying to improve.
You can't hide God in you. God was not meant to become part of you, and you hide out in the closet. I don't think He wanted that. I think He wanted people to see the Christ in you that reflects Him.
I think to actually be an Olympian to me means that you've trained most of your life, or you've dedicated most of your life or a big chunk of your life into doing something that you believe that you can accomplish.
Believe in yourself, not only in swimming, but in life itself. You always have to have fun. You have to have an open mind. If you're not enjoying it, don't do it. Life's too short.
In Romania, of course, gymnastics is among the most popular sports, and my parents had a dream of escaping the Ceausescu regime and giving their child a better life. So they came to the United States and put me in gymnastics.
We need to educate our elite coaches more and have a better approach to teaching the athletes about how to be healthy rather than berate them, humiliate them, use tactics that could scar them for life.
I try to protect my loved ones, the people I share my life with, because they don't have a public life like me. I want to keep their lives private out of respect for them.
