 But it seems that the judging maybe they shouldn't at least see the practices all week long. That can taint the way they go into the judging and the outlook of what's going to happen, instead of just watching those four minutes and judging on those minutes alone. |
| I was thrilled one year when I was younger when not only did my brothers get hockey sticks for Christmas - but I did too! |
| I think it's a lot harder for the pros to have a long career in ice dance and in pairs. It seems the singles have a little bit of a longer career. |
| I was a tomboy who liked to play rough just like my two older brothers. That's probably why I liked the athletic part of skating - especially the jumping! |
| It is a process of finding the right music then planning a costume to fit that style of music. |
| And I love what I do and I love skating. |
| People would ask me why I was doing what I was doing - but I always told them that I just loved to skate. There was no other explanation. |
| It wasn't always easy getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning to go to the rink. Sometimes I wanted to just go back to sleep. |
| It was never about winning medals or being famous. |
| Sometimes it was difficult to make friends and be social in school because I was always practicing while other kids were getting together and doing things. But it just made me closer to my family, and I realized that they would always be there no matter what. |
| I do not have any pets. We travel too much. |
| My life has been a whirlwind since the '94 Olympics. |
| I worked also, doing things such as our paper route and, later on, waitressing. |
| Even now I can't describe why I love skating so much. |
| My dad worked several jobs to pay for my expense in skating. |
| I like to try all kinds of styles so it always challenges me and forces me to try to look different. |
| But after a few minutes of convincing myself that I really wanted to go - telling myself that I love skating and that my coach is there waiting for me - I would get up and go. And my mother would always get up and eat breakfast with me! |
| My parents never pressured me to skate. They always said I could quit if I wanted to. They only expected me to skate when they had already paid for the expensive lessons. But, otherwise they said I could do what I wanted to do. |
| People are really sick of seeing the winner not win and what the public thinks should happen. |
| Falling down became second nature and it really didn't bother me. |
