The joint lubrication was not what it was when I was competing, and I decided that not having arthritis or rheumatism for the rest of my life was a lot more important to me than returning to the track.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Not many people know, but my joints are extremely hypermobile, and that's why I'm more prone to injuries. That's why most of my major injuries were with the joints. I had a career-threatening wrist injury where picking up a fork to feed myself was a problem, and the thought of playing tennis again was so far from my mind.
When you start thinking you may get hurt, it's time to get out of racing.
I never had a serious injury that kept me out of a big competition. Now everyone has injuries - to their feet or their knees or their backs.
After 13 years of hard landings in gymnastics, one ski run had delivered the biggest injury of my career.
I damaged my hamstring at the London Olympics and had to stop training for five months. At times, I thought my career was over.
I used biomechanics to save time when I was competing.
I didn't have statistics in my mind when I was racing. It was always a consequence - a nice consequence. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't the reason I was racing.
I may never get back to the track. The problem was that I was dominating my event, and the winning became slightly boring. I wanted new challenges, and I've got that on the road.
It might have been easier to retire, to say my knee couldn't handle it and let that be that. At the same time, the prospect of not being able to compete in gymnastics anymore was heartbreaking.
I started sailing because I had to stop playing tennis so much, as I had bad knees.