Without strength and courage it's really hard to perform at the highest levels of international figure skating, because you're alone on the ice and you only have seven minutes over two nights to prove yourself.

Most other competitions are individual achievements, but the Olympic Games is something that belongs to everybody.

I just try to touch people's hearts in a way through skating, so they're not just witnessing a performance, they're feeling a performance and they're a part of it.

I was more interested in skating and the girls and traveling than I was in calculus.

Male figure skating is different than female figure skating; we're not America's sweetheart.

I started skating and I kind of liked it because I could run circles around the guys that wouldn't pick me to play baseball.

And so figure skating was a great vehicle for me to kind of be competitive at something, without having to be big.

That's what makes the Ryder Cup in golf so much better than the Masters or the U.S. Open. To be a part of something that is not about personal achievement, but about representing everyone and sharing it with the whole country, it's wonderful.

When you're expected to win and you have the press saying that you are going to win the Olympic gold medal, and you're the only sure thing in the Olympics, it can undermine your confidence.