At the Olympics, you have almost nothing to lose, but at the Olympic trials, you have everything to lose. You have the last four years of your life to lose.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
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.
The Olympics is about showing what you've done with your life, your dream as an athlete and sharing that with the world.
If you're the Olympic champion then they have to wait four more years to get you again.
For athletes, the Olympics are the ultimate test of their worth.
The Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I was lucky enough to go twice, but most people only get one chance. And in judo you can train your whole life and it'll come down to a split second: You can lose everything or win anything.
The Olympics are only once every four years, so you have to take advantage of all your opportunities, both to be an inspiration to people and help support your sponsors who help you.
You hit one level of the sport, and then you want to get to the next level. Until, eventually, the Olympics becomes part of that dream, part of that goal set and the mindset of wanting to get there. And then you realize there's so much incredible hard work and determination and effort that you need to put in along the way.
My life goes in four-year cycles. The World Cup is every four years and the Olympics are every four years.
When you win the Olympics, you hope that the medal that you get, that weight makes it feel like you really earned something.
I'm going to keep living my life the way I've been living my life, and nothing is going to change that even if the Olympics are coming up.