I was always known as that stocky, muscular, powerful, short, athlete. People always wondered if I was on steroids, and it was because I wasn't that long and lean, flexible, artistic gymnast. It didn't affect me too much but it got to the point where I tried to be that long and lean gymnast, and it just wasn't possible.
I live for Pilates reformer class. I go at least three times a week. It's a great way to lengthen your muscles, stretch, and kind of relax your mind.
I was always trying to be leaner and thinner to fit the standard and the mold.
I don't want to be all power and muscle.
I always have someone to look up to, and I think it helps me with motivating myself.
I started from zero and went back to the basics in gymnastics.
In 2008 I didn't take it all in enough. I was so wrapped up in just the competition that I missed what was going on around me. If I am given that opportunity again to go to the Olympics and be an athlete I want to take it all in because I feel like this is my last shot and I want to feel the team spirit. I want to really live and breathe the USA.
My approach to gymnastics in Beijing was heavily based on the amount of difficulty I could do.
People only see gymnastics on TV and in the Olympics at such an extreme. So it can be intimidating.
People put too much emphasis on looks.
To finish off this whole Olympics by finally getting the gold medal, it's the best feeling in the world.
When I was 3 my parents put me in gymnastics because I was a bundle of energy and they just didn't know what to do with me! They put me in a Tots class and I just fell in love with it.
My coach, Liang Chow, had one rule while I was training for the 2008 Olympics: no skiing. I could do anything I wanted outside the gym, he said, except ski.
I was able to do Classics, the U.S. national championships and the Pan American Games and feel like I improved with each meet, but I was still struggling with a lot of residual pain from the two surgeries.
If you lose the nerves, you lose the sport.
I still can't believe I'm an Olympic athlete.
I've never had a teammate competing with me my whole life.
I know how much more I need to do to be where I want.
I missed being considered an athlete and having that competitive drive, and missed having something to work for every day. I'd taken two and a half years away from the sport and was out of shape. I wanted to get back to where I was in 2008.
My other life keeps me calm and grounded and normal.
I started taking gymnastic classes when I was 3 years old.
Something my mom taught me when I was little is that everything happens for a reason.
Gymnastics is so complex.
I had a constant fear, a constant little doubt in my mind: 'OK, I'm getting ready to do my standing back full on beam and I might re-tear my ACL.'
I have a healthy lifestyle, but there's nothing you can really do to prevent from rolling an ankle or something like that.
