I wanted to make America proud.

It's easy to look into the future and worry about the past.

I tell my boyfriend that... we should get a ranch so we can just adopt all the dogs that need homes, and they can just run around all day.

I'm really good at window shopping, or I'll go into a store and just choose one thing.

When I was in middle school, I remember thinking, like, Tara Lipinski was 14: I only got a few more years to go before I'm really old.

When I'm at home, I'm a real big cuddler, so I sleep with my dog in my arms.

Figure skaters are usually young and then just fade away. But I'm not a fade-away kind of person.

I have always believed that I am an amazing skater regardless of what the results say, and I think that determination and confidence has kept me in the game so long.

I can snap my toes. Everyone keeps asking me this, but I know it's kind of weird, but I think it's fun that I can snap my toes.

I think being in the public eye has made me more determined than other people to show that I do belong at the top, and I believe I am one of the hardest-working people at the rink. I feel like I have always been that way, but sometimes I just get in my own way.

My dad is a very creative type of person, so he has rolls that make no sense to most people familiar with sushi. He has a High Five roll. What is that? Don't ask questions. Just try it. He's kind of mischievous, and that's how I am, too.

I would like to be on 'Dancing With the Stars' because I want to be a star.

I think I would be bored if I were winning all the time, even though it would be nice.

My dad usually never has time for my skating, which is OK because they have to make a living somehow. For them to put their business on hold and come all the way to Korea to watch me skate - especially my dad - he feels responsible not just for my mom and for himself, but there are a lot of people who work there, too.

I think my own thinking is harsher than my mom's discipline.

For the American culture to evolve and include Asians is so amazing.

A lot of people know me for my speed and my flexibility. I like to jump, but I'm not really the best jumper. I'm more of a spinner.

I loved being at the rink every day and training.

The only thing I can expect from myself is to learn from each competition and improve.

Skating becomes more important to me every year. It's obviously harder as age takes a toll on the body and the brain, and I think because of that, competing becomes much more difficult. That's why those who stick around are always so appreciative of others' skating because we know how much work goes into it.

Sports are evolving and always evolving, and people have that determination to keep going and coming back. I think I'm one of those athletes. I stand to show that people shouldn't give up. You've got to just keep going until you succeed.

I pride myself on being Japanese American.

I feel like the worst has happened to me, so what better person to skate to 'Madame Butterfly' than me?

To all the little girls out there, I would tell them to really appreciate what their parents do for them. And also to truly believe in their dream. If they truly believe that they're capable, things will happen for them - as long as they put in the work, of course.

You can train to be ready for the nerves, and we simulate it all the time, but it's never the same when it actually matters.

Sports is expensive, and you have to find a way to pay for it.

I've dreamed about going to the Olympics ever since I was young.

It was my goal and dream to be selected to the Olympic team, so I knew going into it the amount of responsibility I was given.

I don't necessarily always feel happy when I'm skating.

Being named to the Olympic team has special meaning to it because I feel like I've come full circle.

I started skating when I was five years old in Pasadena, California.

I guess I can be stereotypical and say that Asians are very cheap.

I like to be bold and different and to go and try things.

Narcissism is just self-confidence.

For my dad to say he's proud of me - in English - is a really big deal.

I'm great at dishwashing.

My parents are super excited that they've produced an Olympian. I don't think they ever would have imagined this would happen in a million years, so I hope I represent not only Team U.S.A., but the Japanese-American culture and my family as well.

My Olympic moment from the individual event was that I was really able to enjoy my skating, and so that meant a lot to me, and I didn't portray that accurately.

I think, as a skater, I started out really strongly, and as I have grown in the public eye, I have had my rough seasons that most people don't get as much attention for.

I used to skate around the rink with my mom, and we used to race each other until I started getting way better. Then she hung up her skates and resorted to playing my music at the rink.

I'm that person: I will literally do everything to not get out of bed, so I have alarms set for every 15 minutes.

Who cares if you get last place. This is the Olympics. Making it is the hard part.

A long time ago, a sports reporter wrote that I wasn't strong in the free-skate, that I was more of a short-program skater. And that bothered me because I work so hard every day just for a person to judge me on a couple of bad skates and deem me a bad free skater. That's absurd!

I have always believed that I've been an amazing skater regardless of what the results say.

My mom is really dedicated to me. She drives me to school and skating, wakes up for me, and I'm just really appreciative.

I don't even remember how many times I've sprained my ankle. I've had stress fractures galore and torn my PCL. You just take a little time off if you have the time, and if not, you keep training until you can take the time off.

It was really, really heartbreaking to not be named to the team in Sochi, but some things are just not meant to be. That experience changed me as a skater. I took a step back and decided that some things are not worth accepting. I wanted to be on another Olympic team. I took time to evolve myself as a person and as a skater.

I'm a solo skater; the sport can be lonely.

I just want to redeem myself and show the world that... it wasn't a fluke that I won at nationals. I can compete on the international stage as well.

Whenever Michelle Kwan texts me or mentions my name, I'm like, 'Wow.' I still can't believe that this is someone who I grew up looking up to, and they know my name.