"It is other people who want me to win medals."

"The silver medals I won in Salt Lake City didn’t give me anything. Last year I set myself the goal of winning the Wor…"

"This year I just want to enjoy myself. I could give up tomorrow without having the slightest regret. I could keep awa…"

"Fame is almost a poison. I couldn’t care less, in fact I lived better when I was a nobody."

"Some people say I make mistakes, I just say that in fact this is the secret of enjoying life. I hate monotony. Why do…"

"Sport is born clean and it would stay that way if it was the athletes who ran it for the pleasure of taking part, but…"

"Anyone who isn’t strong is left in a corner, no one asks for their autograph, they are abandoned in the cold shadows.…"

"From this inhuman pressure doping is born because the athlete feels the imperative of having to be No. 1. I believe i…"

"You basically have to trick yourself into incredible intensity to do this stuff, and I do a good job of pretending th…"

"For me the ideal Olympics would be to go in with all that pressure, all that attention and have performances that are…"