I ran the effort to bring the 2012 Olympic Games to New York City. We lost - on a global scale. To my surprise, life went on, and I learnt that nobody cares about your failures as much as you do.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
My biggest loss was the Olympics. I just can't forget losing. I never will.
The Olympics meant everything to me. Going through them is like nothing else you will ever experience. For those few weeks, you are in another world. At that point, I couldn't see how there could ever be anything better.
Maybe there's a little girl who thinks she can be an Olympic athlete, and she sees all the things I struggled through to get here. Yeah, I didn't walk away with a medal or run away with a medal, but I think there's lessons to be learned when you win and lessons to be learned when you lose.
I've been to three Olympics and I don't feel I've ever quite achieved my best at any of them.
I had a really dark time after the Olympic Games... But then I said to myself, 'This is a sport that's blessed me with a home, with an education, with some money. I can't hate this sport. This sport took me out of Louisiana. This sport gave me a chance when so many people don't get a chance. And I love this sport.'
I'm just maintaining the same mindset that I had going into the 2012 Olympics and Olympic trials, which is just, whatever happens, happens.
I feel like at the Olympics I gave the best performance of my life and I wasn't rewarded for that as an athlete. Yes, my fans and my mom were happy about it, but I didn't win that gold medal.
I was blessed with a long career where I won gold medals for myself and my country. Nothing stands out as a disappointment.
I think after the 2008 Olympics I wasn't really satisfied with the outcome, so I knew I had to change some things.
I knew very little or nothing about the Olympics. Having qualified was itself a big achievement for me, and then being there was quite overwhelming. Although I lost in the opening round, but the fact that I fought well was enough for me to take away from Athens.