inhiswords

"They can just throw me in the desert and bury me, I got a gold medal. I'm good now.''

"It's just like I have my skates under me and I guess some people describe it as having no skates on your feet. It's kind of like running out there. Everything's connected. It doesn't look like you have any kind of mechanics on your body, just looks like you're free skating and for me, I just feel the ice. I can feel it under my feet, I can feel it under my toes, I feel every ripple in the ice and I feel that's something that contributes a lot to my success."

"I always believed that I could be number one in the world. In the past, I've won World Cup races, but it's never been as consistent as it is right now. Being number one right now, I've got a bull's eye on my back."

"My quest, my journey, is not about wining four golds. It's about going to the Olympics, experiencing it, enjoying it."

"I'm half Japanese and my dad is pretty short, so I'm pretty short to begin with. That's short track speed skating. You look at long track (speed skaters), those guys are just enormous – they're huge. I'm pretty short. I don't think it's so much about my build, it's more just I have the talent on the ice. I have a feel for the ice. That's something that I was given a gift and I don't see any reason for me to throw that away. And it's a sport I love. I go out there every single day and there's not one day I don't want to be out there. I skate eight times a week, every single day. So it's pretty hard. "

"I hated the first month I was out there in Lake Placid. Being moved from Seattle to New York is a big change, especially Lake Placid, being such a small town. I've never been in that kind of environment where I kind of felt caged. Then I started to have fun and my coach really persuaded me that I could become one of the best in the world and it just became fun. I was away from home at 14 years old and all I had to do was train and go to school. That was a blast."

" Dad is just my pops, I guess. He's strict, but he's always been there to support me all the way. I think I get my work ethic from him. My dad is definitely one of the hardest working people I've ever met in my life. I respect my dad is so many ways like that. He's trying to run a business at the same time, but he would rather try to support me and help me out 110 percent of the way. That's something real special. "