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Beijing didn't go the way I planned and I would have liked to have performed a little bit better personally. After Beijing that is what stuck in my mind. I want a better Olympic finish.
It's important for moms, but also dads, to recognize that they're role models when it comes to their kids' physical health, when it comes to working out, and when it comes to nutrition.
There is a period of tapering when we're not in the gym quite as long to try to save our bodies, but leading up to the competition we try to keep things similar to the rest of the year.
I really like crop tops. I like how you can dress them up or down, with jeans or a skirt and heels. I like to be showy and cute. I don't want to be in just a jacket and pants and boots.
I would be like, 'Oh, my gosh, I wish I could go to prom.' But then I think, 'You know what? A lot of people can't say they've ever done what I do - they'll never have this opportunity.'
These are friendships that these girls are making that will be a lifetime and they're doing things that are so abnormal and to such a high level, that there's a bond that's like no other.
If you want to take it up a step and aim to become a competitive gymnast, you have to be mentally strong and prepared to take on the workload of going to the gym every day, rain or shine.
I'm not gonna lie, I love Usain Bolt and Serena Williams. What I love about Serena is that she just gets on the floor and she dominates. She handles her business very well, I respect that.
As you get older, it's harder to maintain your weight and to fly through the air for those routines. It's also the lifestyle; you train seven to eight hours a day, five to six days a week.
Never give up and always keep fighting, because though times may be tough, the sacrifices do pay off, so just keep pushing towards your dream and just love it at the same time and enjoy it.
And we lost a lot because of that, and I think this is future gymnastics to separate ages. Because kids can do it more than adult. A woman and adult woman can show more than the small kids.
Sometimes I want to be a normal kid and go to the beach, but it's so motivating to think about going to the Olympics again. I'll only be 22 years old after Rio, and I can do whatever I want.
For obstacle racing, you wanna be as light, lean, and fast as possible. So, if I lift a lot of weights, I'm gonna be a little bit heavier, which will make it harder for me to hold myself up.
You give up your childhood. You miss proms and games and high-school events, and people say it's awful... I say it was a good trade. You miss something but I think I gained more than I lost.
It was probably right after I made my comeback - after retiring post-2008 Olympics - when I finally felt more at ease with my body. Being away from the sport helped put things in perspective.
I had ridiculous amounts of energy. Mom's like, you're driving me crazy - do you want to try gymnastics? From the moment I started it, I loved it and it kind of was like storybook from there.
The majority of people who get in the sport of gymnastics do not go to the Olympics or get a Division 1 scholarship, but it doesn't mean that they can't get something positive from the sport.
In football, you're dealing with grown men. In gymnastics, you're dealing with prepubescent teenage girls. There's a huge difference. At that age, you're not confident enough to have a voice.
When I was 22, I finally reached that huge goal. Now I'm going for another one. It's so satisfying. It's something that I worked for for so long, and just to know that I got it feels so great.
I really like the retro look. My regular clothing, I like to always keep it classy and I like to kind of be more dressed up more of the time. I'm not really someone you see in sweatpants a lot.
I wrote the book 'Grace, Gold & Glory' because I had to overcome many challenges and hardships. I wanted to share my story to let anyone facing hardships know that your dream is still possible.
See, when I went to the Olympics in '76, the gymnastics people knew that I was good, but everybody else, after I won, everybody was like, 'Where's she coming from? Who is she? What is Romania?'
At the Olympics, you there to do a job. I feel you should take it seriously. You should be respectful. You are putting on the red-white-and-blue and going out there to perform for your country.
It might have been easier to retire, to say my knee couldn't handle it and let that be that. At the same time, the prospect of not being able to compete in gymnastics anymore was heartbreaking.
I think imperfection is beauty. Instead of being insecure about my muscles, I've learned to love them. I don't even think of it as a flaw anymore because it's made me into the athlete that I am.
To have any doubt in your body is the biggest weakness an athlete can have. There are times when I physically can't get myself to go for a skill because I'm thinking, 'My knee hurts really bad.'
I try to eat super clean: No processed sugars, no corn syrups, nothing frozen in a box that you can microwave. If I read the ingredient label and I don't know what something is, I assume it's bad.
When I look back, I am happy that my mum took me to the gymnastics club. I didn't join gymnastics to become a famous athlete or celebrity; it just happened - I did more than I expected, of course.
I think a lot of people don't actually know me. They think, 'She's like this,' or, 'She's like that.' They say I have no emotions - I do, but you couldn't see them then. I had to keep them inside.
I really want to feel that I'm in a very balanced and good place in my life. And I do feel that. But I think it's always important to learn and draw little bits of inspiration from wherever we can.
I'm pleased to say my knee feels a lot better. It's still not back to normal, and I don't know if it ever will be, but I'm learning to deal with it instead of expecting it to be like it was before.
I had a lot of energy, and my mom decided to look for a place where I can spend the energy, because I was jumping on the couch and furniture, and I was jumping on the top of the things in the house.
I remember before the Olympics, I was asked, 'What do you think you're going to do in the Olympics?' and I said, 'I'm hoping I'm going to win a medal, and, if possible, it's going to be a gold one.'
As long as you've done your best, making mistakes doesn't matter. You and I are human; we will mess up. What counts is learning from your mistakes and getting back up when life has knocked you down.
Sometimes I think of that and I'm like, "Simone, I don't know what else you can do. What more can you do? Maybe you can repeat yourself." I'll take time off, get out more, go outside more, vacation.
I always say my biggest competitor is myself because, whenever I step out there on the mat, I'm competing against myself to prove that I can do this and that I am very well trained, prepared for it.
You have to remember that the hard days are what make you stronger. The bad days make you realize what a good day is. If you never had any bad days, you would never have that sense of accomplishment!
The external world is changing drastically, and enterprises and products will have a short lifecycle if they don't change. So we have to react to market trends. Nothing lasts forever in today's world.
I set my phone with motivational quotes to go off on random days and times. Like, 'You're stronger than you think you are.' I'll forget about it, then one will pop up and it'll give me a little boost.
Growing up I definitely looked up to Dominique Moceanu. She was my favorite gymnast and she was on that '96 Olympic team. She was always so fun to watch. I kind of wanted to model my career after hers.
We need to educate our elite coaches more and have a better approach to teaching the athletes about how to be healthy rather than berate them, humiliate them, use tactics that could scar them for life.
Any company faces big challenges during transformation. People are accustomed to going ahead on the existing track. Even when they know there are problems, the first reaction is to protect the old way.
I work out every day, but my idea is to make something short. I work out a maximum half hour. I only do like 20 minutes of cardio, and I do some stretching and some light weights, and I'm out of there.
It sounds funny, but the 2008 Olympics were something that just kind of happened, and I was lucky they came at a point when I was uninjured and well prepared. As a gymnast, you can't ask for much more.
It's definitely important to have your mom and family there to back you up and cheering from the stands. You'd love them to come to every big dance and every big game, but sometimes that's not possible.
And in nineteen seventy two I almost wasn't, on the team, but I knew about it just before Olympic Games for three months before this why this is was not very good for me. I'd been ready to go, you know.
The reaction of the public plays a very important role. It gives us an adrenaline boost, especially when people start to shout and clap their hands in time with the music. That really helps us to go on.
When I first turned elite in gymnastics, when I was 14, that's when I really became more inspired than ever. I just always kept that in the back of my mind, and always thought about making the 2012 team.
Mentally, I have to get my body and mind in the right place before I start the routine, but once into the zone, it's like I turn on a switch. I envision myself doing the same thing for the Olympic Games.
They're like, 'Oh, you did a...' and I'm like, 'I did a what?' No, I flipped twice. I twisted twice. They go, 'It's called a...' and I'm like, 'Why do I need to know that? I just need to go and do that.'