Every generation comes with a unique athlete, I don't think anybody wants to be the next Nadia; they want to be themselves.

Other kids had more talent, but I was the most focused.

I remember everything from 1976. I remember I was 14, and I remember my routines.

I remember before the Olympics, I was asked, 'What do you think you're going to do in the Olympics?' and I said, 'I'm hoping I'm going to win a medal, and, if possible, it's going to be a gold one.'

At 14, you think you compete, you retire and you get a job. I didn't think gymnastics was a career that was going to change my life.

I thought I was going to retire at 20, and I was going to be a surgeon.

I didn't know I wanted to be a gymnast; I was just introduced to the gym. I loved the place because it looked like a hi-tech playground with mats and a lot of things I can hang from.

At some particular time, when I was 14 years old, I've done something that people didn't expect.

I think that when you are on a four-inch balance beam, you don't care about laughing or smiling or waving to the crowd because you're going to be down in a second.

I had more pressure when I competed in Moscow. I had no pressure in Montreal because I only went to do my routines and hoping I didn't mess it up when I was on the bar. When I came back, 10,000 people were at the airport and I thought, 'Why?' because, in my mind, I hadn't done anything different from what I used to do in my gym.

People think you have pressure when you are young. It's the other way round, actually.

Gymnastics should be popular everywhere; you just need the right person to start the right programme.

Gymnastics was my way to travelling the world.

I am not a perfect 10 anymore. I can only try my best.

We only had white socks in Romania. But when I used to come back from the States, I used to bring back pink and yellow socks with all kind of designs, and hair clips and elastic bands for the ponytail that had colourful designs.

In Montreal, I kept thinking, 'Pay attention: this is the Olympics! It only happens once every four years!'

I am very highly appreciated in my country, and everybody seems to love me.

I like America. I don't want to hurt America.

To me, family is what is important. If you don't have it, nothing is going to matter.

The - I don't want to say older, but the more experienced I get, I treasure and I honor what I've done much more.

People always accused me of not smiling like my rival Olga Korbut, but that was just my personality. When you're balancing on a nine-inch beam, you have to concentrate. But if you look back at the footage, I was always smiling and waving at the crowd after my performances.

It was my mother who got me involved in gymnastics, sending me to classes when I was six just to stop me doing back flips on the couch and destroying the furniture.

Two days after returning from Montreal, I was training again, and I went on to win two more golds at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

After retiring from competition in 1981, I did exhibitions and coached.

I think a lot of people don't actually know me. They think, 'She's like this,' or, 'She's like that.' They say I have no emotions - I do, but you couldn't see them then. I had to keep them inside.

Gymnastics is so huge in the Olympics. There are a lot of fans who want to see more.

I wasn't allowed to leave Romania. That made me mad. You just want your freedom. You want your space. You want opportunity.

When I got married in Bucharest, there were 10,000 people on the street. People didn't go to work that day. It was emotional to see how people care about you. I didn't expect that.

See, when I went to the Olympics in '76, the gymnastics people knew that I was good, but everybody else, after I won, everybody was like, 'Where's she coming from? Who is she? What is Romania?'

In the '80 Olympics... people expected me to win. I was good enough to win, and I made a mistake and ended up second, which is pretty good, too.

When you're growing up, you realize you've got a lot of heavy things on your shoulders.

Now, I have a kid, I have businesses to take care of, I have to travel. I have to sit down... and find a little time for me.

I work out every day, but my idea is to make something short. I work out a maximum half hour. I only do like 20 minutes of cardio, and I do some stretching and some light weights, and I'm out of there.

I'm not a dreamer for, you know, 'I want to go to the moon someday.' I accomplished something when I was young, which was much more than I expected to. My results were much bigger than I ever dreamed about it.

I've only been blessed with one talent, unfortunately, and that's being able to sing a wee bit.

Lip balm can double up for taming the brows, too.

I am such an indoor person.

I'm not a particularly healthy eater. But I am 100 per cent fit and healthy and I am the right weight for my body type.

I'm very close to a lot of people from my time in the band, like our hair and make-up people and the dancers, but you gravitate towards the people that you have stuff in common with.

I have a very good, close circle of friends, I keep it positive. Obviously there is the negative stuff, but you've got to let go of it. You can't get bogged down in the details of anything, otherwise you'd drive yourself mad.

I am psychic.

As a woman I think we are capable of doing so many things. There is great ability to compartmentalise - to focus on the task at hand, do it well and then move on to the next one, while having another million things going on.

My weight often fluctuates by half a stone.

Some days I am fine but us mums are not robots, we are not perfect, we have to give ourselves a break and a pat on the back.

I was born and raised in Derry and I can't change the way I talk.

My big weakness is potatoes. I love them mashed or baked.

I tend to go with the flow and that flow can end up in great places or not so great places.

I love the live shows when they're on and all singing great but I hate it when the judges say bad things about their singing. I feel sick because I feel it is mean because I've done the reality TV thing so I have such strong memories of what it feels like and I just imagine how bad and how nervous they must feel.

Louis Walsh, he made me audition for Girls Aloud, he said, 'If you don't, I won't speak to you again.' I was like, 'We don't speak that much anyway.' I went and it all worked out well, I wouldn't have gone to the audition if it wasn't for him.

The entertainment thing - you're there to entertain, it's not about you - I get that, but for a while I lost my opinion.