Times don't matter but medals matter.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
You don't get any medal for trying something, you get medals for results.
But I'm after medals more than anything. Championships don't get taken away from you but records do, so I think I'd rather have medals at every championships rather than times. A world record would be a bonus, but I'm still only 25 in 17 days.
Of course awards matter.
It doesn't matter how many times you win an award, it is always very special.
Records are there to be broken. Lots of people would love to swap their world record for an Olympic medal, but for me, my medals are there forever and ever, and that's what does it for me.
I know it won't be eight medals again. If you want to compare me to that, that's your decision, not mine. I'm going out there to try to accomplish the things that I have in my mind and in my heart.
Nobody cares about the bronze or silver medals.
The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.
That's what everybody remembers. They don't remember how many medals I won in my career. They remember the 10s.
Medals don't suit me. I'm not that kind of guy.