Figure skating is an amazing ride. It takes you from feeling like the lowest scum in the pond, like two hours ago. And now I feel like a flower growing out of the pond.

I love skating and sparkling and flying around the ice, and people clap for you. It's an amazing feeling.

Figure skating is theatrical. It's artistic. It's elegant. It's extremely athletic. And there's a very specific audience for that.

To me, figure skating is an art form, and that's what I always try to bring in, even to my competitive programs.

In figure skating, your body can only last for so long. I can't be 50 and trying to skate but I can be 50 and be in fashion, so I have to look to my future and what I want to achieve.

I never ever wanted to change my sport... Figure skating was my outlet, it was my breath, it was how I could live and transmit everything I was feeling and everything I had worked for and given up and all these sacrifices I'd made throughout the years. It was how I could make them all worth it.