I know sometimes in the off-season I have to motivate myself to get on the ice because I know there's so long until the competitions begin again.
On the ice, I feel like I can become a different person, and the darker dramatics, the Black Swan, is confident: she's free to do whatever she wants, and that attitude helps in my skating. The White Swan is, I feel, more what I'm actually like off the ice: I'm a lot quieter, and if someone tells me to do something, I'll just do it.
A dream can be what wakes you up in the morning and keeps you going every day, whether things are going great or not. You have that dream; you have that passion inside you that you keep pushing forward.
When I saw the movie 'Black Swan,' I liked the darker aspect of it, the more dramatics, and that's what I like to do for my programs.
I never dreamt of the Olympics growing up. It's not something that I watched on TV; it's not something my parents ever talked about.
I aim to skate as clean as possible.
I work with a team of coaches and trainers to make me feel like I am not alone out on the ice.
'Swan Lake' was my favourite piece of music when I was younger, and I never had a chance to skate to it.
I started skating when I was 2 years old because of my older sister Natasha was a skater, and I wanted to be just like her!
I love teaching the younger skaters.
I want each experience on the ice to be everything I have.
When you think of a teenager, you think of hanging out with friends a lot or going to a full-time school. On the weekends, my friends are staying up until, like, one in the morning, and then there's me fighting to stay up until eight.
I was such a goofy kid that, when I won things, people were like, 'Oh, when did that happen?'
I'm more thoughtful and aware of how my body feels. I've learned the difference of what is just sore from a hard workout or what's sore from a possible injury.
Skating is really hard, especially women's skating where we're judged in little tiny dresses.
Ultimately, for me, weight is something I have to deal with every year, but I do it with food because I love food. But it's a struggle; it's something that I think about.
I love the classic side of skating, making it look like a full program and not just technical based.
To pursue anything, you've got to have fun with it and to just never give up on it.
I need to motivate myself to work hard because only I can skate my program.
I knew that things were going to hurt. I knew that things weren't always going to be perfect. But I could trust that I could make it through it.
