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Of course, when you're training your whole life to get to the Olympics, you train for gold.

Our athletes are our heroes.

Becoming an Olympian is the ultimate reward for any athlete.

I knew that life isn't always just about the Olympic gold medals and the sponsors.

Former Olympians also get paid to make appearances. Many of them won their medals in an era when Olympic success didn't go hand-in-hand with financial success.

You always dream of going to the Olympics and winning gold. I've learned over the years that there are lots of gold medals, but certain stories stick out and make a difference.

After one Olympics, if we invest in sports and say we will get a gold medal in the next Olympic, it doesn't work like that in sports. How it works is that you provide the infrastructure, provide education about nutrition and health.

Gold medals are made out of your sweat, blood and tears, and effort in the gym every day, and sacrificing a lot.

To be an Olympian - not many people can say that. But first of all, I've got to make the team, and I know a lot of hard work is going to go into it, so hopefully it pays off.

I had already been into my professional career for six years and had not won an individual gold medal at the Olympics. There was a tremendous amount of pressure going into 1996 to get it done.