No one has a life where everything that happened was good. I think the thing that made life good for me is that I never looked back. I've always been positive, no matter what happened.

When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome.

You become world famous, and you sit with kings and queens, and then your first job is just a job. You can't go back to living the way you did before because you've been taken out of one setting and shown the other. That becomes a struggle and makes you struggle.

I loved the feeling of freedom in running, the fresh air, the feeling that the only person I'm competing with is me.

In college, I was an education major and qualified for several jobs. But the fame that came with the Olympic medals was too threatening to many people.

Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.

I have spent a lifetime trying to share what it has meant to be a woman first in the world of sports so that other young women have a chance to reach their dreams.

Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.

Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle.