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I started swimming when I was four because my brother wanted to join a swim team, and I wanted to do what he did. They said I had to be six, but if I could swim a lap, then I could participate. So I swam a lap, and the rest is history.
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That's what I love about running - I feel like we all celebrate each other. Even if you're racing somebody at the finish, it's like you're in it together.
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I don't care how much you're working out; when you go to put on that bikini, you're like, 'Oh no!'
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It's not really about the competition. Your biggest challenge in a race is yourself. You're often racing against time. You're frequently running everything through your mind. You're always competing against preconceived ideas. It's not really the person next to you that you worry about.
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Tennis is interesting because the women are almost more popular than the men. In the U.S. Open, women even get exactly the same money as the men.
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I'm really conscious of the amount of food I eat, but I don't deny myself anything. For example, I have a really big sweet tooth. At the end of the night, if I'm craving ice cream, I might not have the bowl that I would have when I was a kid, but I'll put a couple of scoops in a coffee mug, and I'll eat it slowly, and I enjoy every moment of it.
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Running is how I clear my head and find my center again.
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Being a pro athlete doesn't mean you treat your body right, even though it's so important to what you do. Being a runner and training for important races has taught me more about how to fuel than swimming ever did. I realize it's a process and part of the commitment.
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If you're not mentally tough, If nerves undo you instead of focus you, If you don't have the inner arrogance That you absolutely have what it takes to win, If you don't see, in your mind's eye, A picture of yourself winning - then you won't win; And not because you can't.
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At 4, I joined a summer rec team called the Sugar Bears.
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To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It's not about winning and losing; it's about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It's about embracing the pain that you'll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge.
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Quite simply, my diet has and will always be everything in moderation. People look at Olympic athletes and think they must cut out all those things everyone else indulges in, and speaking for myself, I never did.
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It really was my brother who got me involved in swimming. I wanted to be just like him and do everything he was doing.