I thought if they can turn things around, then so can we. I hope this is momentum for the speed skating team and for our Olympic team. We needed a day like this. |
I was fighting for my life. That's how I thought about it. Just getting everything out of my body. |
I was kind of afraid like, `What if I'm not good any more? What if I need to be a cyclist to be a good skater? What if taking that element away meant I would suck at skating?' ... I was really unsure and frustrated. |
I'll skate on concrete if I have to. I'm not worried about how fast the ice is. I'm worried about how fast I can go on the ice. |
I'm so thrilled. This has been a dream. |
I've been in sport for 15 years now and I'm actually shocked at the changes. We had all these things, but we couldn't utilize them. They were not accessible to us. They're actually accessible right now. |
I've had so many experiences in cycling, but in some ways I have nothing left to prove. I have achieved more than I could have dreamed of, I've raced a lot longer than I thought I would. I know I can still be better, but I just don't know if I love it enough any more. |
If you dream and you allow yourself to dream you can do anything. And that's what this Olympic medal represents. |
It just kind of takes over your whole being, ... I just feel like I take this deep breath and I think, `I'm home.' |
It's really neat to look at the top-six times and see how fast the women are. It shows we have a lot of depth. Every year we just keep getting better and better. We wanted to go out in the first races of the year and show that our preparations are going well for the Olympics. |
On the last lap, I felt like I was going to die. |
Realistically, I've only been skating for five years. I know if I do choose to go for another Games, I'll physiologically still be in my prime as a female athlete. It's a matter of what I want to do. |
That's what is most satisfying, is having overcome that pain. Pain that is so intense that when you finish, it feels like you're going to die. That's what I wanted, and that's what I got. |
The traveling schedule is pretty crazy. We were in Europe before we went to Korea. You get used to dealing with the jet lag, you have to. |
To actually go beyond that and to go harder in the last third in the race is something I don't even like talking about it's so hard. But that's what I need to train for and that's my goal, to get to that point, and to be able just to viciously attack as if I am fighting for my life. That's it. That's all I want. |