Speed Skating Quotes

I live with fellow speed skaters and National Team members Heather Richardson, Sugar Todd and Mitch Whitmore, and Sugar lives up to her name. She spoils our household with baked goods, and not just at Christmastime.

I started skating when I was five years old in Pasadena, California.

I roller skated when I was younger, but when you're on a track that's slanted and you're with other people all skating in a pack, it's a whole different sport.

I don't even know if you can blink in a hundredth of a second, and that's what it comes down to in speed skating.

Skating has always been a major area of interest to me.

I think I'm a born athlete. My coaches have told me my muscles and body structure are perfect for skating.

When I saw the 2010 Games and speed skating, I had a change of heart. I had always dreamed of being an Olympian, and something clicked inside of me. I knew I had to move to Salt Lake City and make this dream a reality.

I love to roller skate.

Skating can make you feel athletic, graceful, beautiful.

Skating in itself is a difficult sport, and the amazing athletes within the sport are very challenging.

I wanted to play football or be a boxer, but my dad didn't want that because of all the impact. But in 1992 I was watching short track, and it was obscure, but they looked like superheroes in their tight outfits, and I thought it was amazing. I wanted to do that. I made the national team at 14.

I love short track. I competed in short track, I was a world champion in 1986 but at that point in time it wasn't in the Olympic Games so I moved into long track. Short track is a blast to skate and it's a blast to watch.

It took Dan Jansen, the speed skater, four Olympics to win a medal-a gold one at that!-but he never gave up. I won't, either.

I did not want to be a Champion growing up, just a fast skater.

With speed skating, it's like doing one-legged squats over and over again, with that one leg absorbing more than 80 percent of your weight. It takes an enormous amount of strength, and you're in such a weird position.

I began skating in the official practice venue of the 2002 Games. It was a huge Olympic atmosphere with Apollo Ohno sitting on the wall every day when I walked into the rink. That was really cool and very inspiring to see.

I would recommend anybody who gets a chance to see short track skating, make it a point to go out there when Apolo is skating because you won't see anybody better.

I started skating at age 2 on roller skates on the South Side of Chicago, where I grew up. By age 4, roller-skating was something I really enjoyed. Everyone around me wanted to do the 'roll bounce' thing, but I was pretty much only interested in going fast.

I'm sure Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen think I'm garbage.

I can be really fast, but other people are in the race. So you've got to be able to maneuver around those guys, and you have to be a little more versatile out there on the ice. I bring my fitness that I gained from the long track over to here. Hopefully, I'll be able to put it to good use.

I don't remember the first time I skated on ice, I was too young. I do remember falling in love with that wind-in-my-face feeling while speed skating.

For me, the first thing I do when I know I have to do the fastest skater is check my edges and make sure there's no nicks or anything like that.

I'm a speed skater. That's who I am, in my heart.

As soon as I was introduced to ice speed skating, I was instantly hooked. I never thought about pursuing skating professionally; I just enjoyed doing it.

If you skate with an Olympic level skater, they make you so much better because you're skating behind them, and you're trying to imitate their stride and their stance. It's like having the world's greatest training wheels.