I want to be able to look back and say, 'I've done everything I can, and I was successful.' I don't want to look back and say I should have done this or that. I'd like to change things for the younger generation of swimmers coming along.
I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and you put the work and time into it. I think your mind really controls everything.
I want to test my maximum and see how much I can do. And I want to change the world of swimming.
Swimming is more than a once-every-four-years sport. My goal is to bring attention to swimming - to give it some personality.
Being compared to Ian Thorpe, that could be one of the greatest compliments you could ever get in swimming - being compared to him and Mark Spitz.
Swimming is fun. It's a lot funner than golf.
One thing with me, and every goal I've had - in the sport of swimming, my mother didn't know my goals. The only person that knew my goals were my coaches.
I feel like Aaron brings out the best in me
I've always been fortunate in that I've been able to put myself in my own zone and relax. It comes naturally. I'm lucky to be that way
I don't want to be the next Mark Spitz; I want to be the first Michael Phelps
I have the opportunity to be part of swimming history. To take the sport to a new level would be an honor for me. There's no better time to try this than now.
Swimming is normal for me. I'm relaxed. I'm comfortable, and I know my surroundings. It's my home.
I have reached a place in my life where I need to sit down and say, 'Well, what do I do? What's best for me?' I need to look into options for the future.
We wanted to see how close we could get to the world record. We'll take that for right now.
This is my 20th year in the sport. I've known swimming and that's it. I don't want to swim past age 30; if I continue after this Olympics, and come back in 2016, I'll be 31. I'm looking forward to being able to see the other side of the fence.
I try to separate my personal life from swimming.
I won't predict anything historic. But nothing is impossible.
We're all a little tired.
I wanted to do something nobody ever did. This goes hand in hand with my goal of changing swimming.
The only reason I started swimming was for water safety. Then, once I started falling in love with sports, I got more comfortable with it.
It's cool just because I've had this dream of changing the sport of swimming and it's finally happening.
I treat every race the same. We all wanted to swim fast today and give something back to the crowd.
This is the first medal I've ever won in an international meet. For it to be gold is incredible. It feels great. I can't explain it.
When we got in the race, we knew what we had to do and knew what we wanted to do. Having three of four guys from the American record 800 free relay is a pretty solid relay, so we thought we could take a crack at the U.S. Open record tonight. We're all a little tired, but that's fifth-fastest American relay ever, so it's not a bad time. We ended tonight on a great note.
I wanted to get the fastest time in the world this year, but with everything going on, it's a pretty decent swim, ... I knew I was under world record pace. You could tell by the crowd. You can always tell at these meets when something good is going on because of the crowd.
