It took putting one foot in front of the other every single day to get through it to the point where I made it back on the team and won a gold medal in 2008.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
For so long I wanted to win the gold medal. Then I won. I had to figure out what was the new motivation to take myself to that place again.
When I decided to go for four gold medals I planned it out over a few years. It was in four different events and there was a lot to it.
I'm just glad my gold medal's at home, because I'd hate to try to win another.
When you've won a gold medal and you're at the top of your sport, everyone's trying to beat you. I find that incredibly motivating.
To win Olympic gold has been a dream for me for seven or eight years now, so it was amazing to actually achieve that.
Two days after returning from Montreal, I was training again, and I went on to win two more golds at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
In the Olympics, everything goes back to square one. The world champion or the world record holder or the ninth last year are fighting for the same medal, and you have got to go there like it was the first time.
My goal is definitely a gold medal still in Rio.
I always look back to my first Olympic medal in 2004 in Athens. I was very new to the sport, and it was my first big win at the Olympics.
To have this gold medal around my neck is just bonkers and still hasn't really sunk in.
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