PEGGY FLEMING

The ultimate goal should be doing your best and enjoying it.

When I was on the ice, in the lights, with the music and the motion, there was a certain kind of flirtation that gave great energy and expressiveness to my performance.

Love your sport. Never do it to please someone else; it has to be yours. That is all that will justify the hard work. Compete against yourself, not others, for that is who is truly your best competition.

The world went by, and we didn't get caught up in all the other things, because we didn't have time. We had no spare time. It was always thinking about training and focusing on what we wanted, our goals.

Then came the choreography... the impact of music and choreography tends to really emphasize an overall feeling of what you really want out of the program.

It's a level of strength and character that few of us can imagine; a grace under pressure that few of us will ever attain. It's why an Olympic gold medal would not have made us love or admire her more.

I think skating helped me find myself.

We wanted to be achievers, but being an achiever didn't mean that you stopped being a woman.

I think exercise tests us in so many ways, our skills, our hearts, our ability to bounce back after setbacks. This is the inner beauty of sports and competition, and it can serve us all well as adult athletes.

The first thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else. It has to be yours.

We wanted to be achievers, but being an achiever didn't mean that you stopped being a woman.

I think skating helped me find myself.

Giving life to music through skating was something I wanted to be known for.

In 1968, in the midst of the tumultuous 1960s, the Olympics were much more than just another event.

Skating was the vessel into which I could pour my heart and soul.

My sport taught me what I could do with my talents, whether in the rink or in the rest of my life.

The world went by, and we didn't get caught up in all the other things, because we didn't have time. We had no spare time. It was always thinking about training and focusing on what we wanted, our goals.

I think exercise tests us in so many ways, our skills, our hearts, our ability to bounce back after setbacks. This is the inner beauty of sports and competition, and it can serve us all well as adult athletes.

When I was on the ice, in the lights, with the music and the motion, there was a certain kind of flirtation that gave great energy and expressiveness to my performance.

The first thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else. It has to be yours.

As a young child, I played the violin. I think that that started the spark.

When the going got tough, I really had to draw on many of the same competitive instincts I did when I was skating. I really had to put my head down and stay positive. I had to fight.

I really loved what the guys were doing more than anything, how high they jumped, how effortless it was.

Then came the choreography... the impact of music and choreography tends to really emphasize an overall feeling of what you really want out of the program.

The ultimate goal should be doing your best and enjoying it.

Love your sport. Never do it to please someone else; it has to be yours. That is all that will justify the hard work. Compete against yourself, not others, for that is who is truly your best competition.

It's a level of strength and character that few of us can imagine; a grace under pressure that few of us will ever attain. It's why an Olympic gold medal would not have made us love or admire her more.

This is another kind of competition, but I'm being coached by an excellent team, and I've got a real strong competitive spirit.