My dad usually never has time for my skating, which is OK because they have to make a living somehow. For them to put their business on hold and come all the way to Korea to watch me skate - especially my dad - he feels responsible not just for my mom and for himself, but there are a lot of people who work there, too.
— Mirai Nagasu
I think every brilliant mind is a little bit crazy.
When I was in middle school, I remember thinking, like, Tara Lipinski was 14: I only got a few more years to go before I'm really old.
Daisuke Takahashi has really good footwork.
Pre-competition rituals include nap time, because when competition rolls around, I'm a sloth. I also FaceTime my dogs.
I always soak in a bath with Epsom salts for a minimum of 20 minutes to absorb the magnesium once I get home.
For the American culture to evolve and include Asians is so amazing.
Japanese people, they're not really one to complain.
I skate six days a week, three sessions a day, and I go to the gym three times a week. I lift weights, do some ab work and whatever my trainer tells me to do. I take Saturdays off.
I like to be bold and different and to go and try things.
Sports are evolving and always evolving, and people have that determination to keep going and coming back. I think I'm one of those athletes. I stand to show that people shouldn't give up. You've got to just keep going until you succeed.
Something that I saw in Sochi that I didn't get the opportunity to have in Vancouver was the team holding hands with arms in the air and medals around their neck.
I have always believed that I've been an amazing skater regardless of what the results say.
There are moments when I think I'm not very smart and not very pretty, and skating is the only thing that stands out about me. It's like the love of my life. When you love someone, sometimes you want to break up.
If you really put your mind to it, anything is possible.
I wanted to make America proud.
My Olympic moment from the individual event was that I was really able to enjoy my skating, and so that meant a lot to me, and I didn't portray that accurately.
Being 16 is such a great age because I'm still really young, and I'll still have a lot of chances. But the Olympics only come every four years, so you don't want to waste an opportunity.
I sometimes think about adult skating and how, you know, people like Midori Ito, she competed at the adult world championships. I feel like I'll probably be someone like that.
I loved being at the rink every day and training.
Education is more important than skating. I want to keep up with my schoolwork and my skating.
I started skating when I was five years old in Pasadena, California.
On a normal day, I would wake up at 7:00 A.M. and spend about three to four hours training every day. But all of that depends on my school schedule. School and classes usually run from 8:00-10:40 A.M., but not before I've had a coffee for breakfast.
I pride myself on being Japanese American.
I'm really good at window shopping, or I'll go into a store and just choose one thing.
During finals week, I don't get a lot of sleep, and I tell myself, 'I can't do this anymore.'
My dad is a very creative type of person, so he has rolls that make no sense to most people familiar with sushi. He has a High Five roll. What is that? Don't ask questions. Just try it. He's kind of mischievous, and that's how I am, too.
I'm not a fadeaway type of person; I don't have that type of personality.
It was really, really heartbreaking to not be named to the team in Sochi, but some things are just not meant to be. That experience changed me as a skater. I took a step back and decided that some things are not worth accepting. I wanted to be on another Olympic team. I took time to evolve myself as a person and as a skater.
It's easy to look into the future and worry about the past.
I think being in the public eye has made me more determined than other people to show that I do belong at the top, and I believe I am one of the hardest-working people at the rink. I feel like I have always been that way, but sometimes I just get in my own way.
A long time ago, a sports reporter wrote that I wasn't strong in the free-skate, that I was more of a short-program skater. And that bothered me because I work so hard every day just for a person to judge me on a couple of bad skates and deem me a bad free skater. That's absurd!
As athletes, we want to represent our country to the best of our ability.
I've dreamed about going to the Olympics ever since I was young.
I was always getting in trouble for whispering in class.
I tell my boyfriend that... we should get a ranch so we can just adopt all the dogs that need homes, and they can just run around all day.
I'm great at dishwashing.
Michelle Kwan was an inspiration for everyone, including me.
I get about seven hours of sleep a night.
Sports is expensive, and you have to find a way to pay for it.
Sometimes, it's hard for me to communicate my discomfort because I want to be respectful. At the same time, I've learned that you have to ask people on your team to help you out.
A lot of people know me for my speed and my flexibility. I like to jump, but I'm not really the best jumper. I'm more of a spinner.
I believe in adventure and imagination, and I got that from my parents and the things I experienced as a child.
If I fall, I'll take the fall and get up and keep going.
I'm a solo skater; the sport can be lonely.
Being named to the Olympic team has special meaning to it because I feel like I've come full circle.
You can train to be ready for the nerves, and we simulate it all the time, but it's never the same when it actually matters.
I think, as a skater, I started out really strongly, and as I have grown in the public eye, I have had my rough seasons that most people don't get as much attention for.
My parents are super excited that they've produced an Olympian. I don't think they ever would have imagined this would happen in a million years, so I hope I represent not only Team U.S.A., but the Japanese-American culture and my family as well.
It was my goal and dream to be selected to the Olympic team, so I knew going into it the amount of responsibility I was given.
