38 Quotes by Cathy Rigby

They are sweating as much as anyone onstage. Their focus has to be that of somebody working on the balance beam. We're all three in sync. We have to feel what the other is doing. One lifts me up, the other, side to side. They're like puppeteers almost.

For the parents, it is a way to be young physically and emotionally for awhile and not have to deal with the troubles of the world.

There’s no disgrace in failure, the disgrace is not to try.

In high school I never went to the prom because I was too consumed with gymnastics. Also, with my hair in pigtails and looking about 10, I wasn’t exactly date material.

It’s really hard to separate fantasy from reality.

I grew up in a sport that didn’t allow you to grow up. There was always the threat of younger competition. So you had to maintain the image of youth.

There’s so much denial in gymnastics. It’s a beautiful sport but the other part is numbing. You become machinelike. They’ll refute this, but I’ve been around it. I know.

An athlete learns how to hold her breath, but that doesn’t work in singing. You have to learn to relax.

It’s that athlete’s obsessiveness – the need to prove yourself and work harder than anybody else. I think it’s what helped me do well in the theater.