Quotes from Gretchen Bleiler

As long you are doing what you love and making decisions from the heart, you will be successful.

Our job as pros is to walk a very fine line: be the best but stay healthy so you can continue to progress and be at the top. You can't push the sport and yourself if you're always hurt.

Lots of times, people go to the mountains and feel like it's not cool to wear a beanie and goggles and neck gaiter. But you're so much more comfortable, and you're getting the protection you need.

We need more balance in the world - more balance of the feminine and the masculine.

When you start to find balance, then you start to ask more important questions, like, 'Who am I really?' That's when you start seeing that every single person around you is a human being just doing the best that they can.

I'm a Midwestern girl; I was born in Toledo, Ohio, and grew up in Dayton until I was ten years old. Then my whole life changed.

I love dried mangoes, walnuts, and goji berries. The mix provides iron, antioxidants, and omega-3s and really kicks up my energy.

I work out hard; that way, I can eat whatever I want. If you have a hard time regulating your diet, pushing yourself at the gym will help you keep the pounds off.

Being at the top means never being satisfied with what you're comfortable with - comfortable means you've stopped pushing, and you're either going to get passed, or you already have been. But if you're constantly pushing yourself, then you're exposing yourself to falls and injuries.

When I first started snowboarding, it was something that was only really done in the winter. Mount Hood in Oregon was the magical exception.

What most people don't realize is that in snowboarding, there are two different aspects: the filming side and the competition side. The filming side is when snowboarders spend the entire winter season trying to document the best, most progressive and innovative riding of the year.

After the Winter Olympics in 2006, I realized I had a platform to speak about causes that were important to me - and people would listen.

When I win, I'm happy. When I lose, I'm also happy. I'm grateful for this life I have to live. It's a great life.

Climate change poses a far greater threat to the outdoor industry than even the privatization of the public lands.

Plant the seed, set the target, live your life.

From day one, snowboarding led me down a totally different path, and it's that path that's kept me laughing and continually intrigued. I love the satisfaction at the end of the day of overcoming my fears, of spending all day outside working hard, and there's nothing better than the feeling of landing a new trick for the first time.

Jumping on the trampoline for even a half an hour is a really good workout. You get really tired. The next day, you're feeling it. And you really have to use your core. If you don't, your lower back hurts the next day.

Have a specific goal every time you hit the gym; this way, your workouts have built-in purpose.

When you find yourself hitting up against a wall over and over again, it's time to try a different route.

I grew up snowboarding in two of the best states for the sport: Colorado and Utah. The world-class ski mountains in these neighboring states were key factors that allowed me to represent our country in two Olympics and numerous X Games.

I've landed on my shoulders a lot of times, and separated them and stretched the capsule. I've torn my ACL in my right knee; that took me out for an entire season.

The Olympics, you're in front of the world, and yeah you're competing, but you want to look good. You want to have a great representation of who you are.

I've always had bigger legs and butt; it's just the way I'm built. Over time, I realized that they were blessings because that foundation - my legs and butt - is what helps me flip 12 feet above an icy halfpipe.

What snowboarding has always had and the Olympics has not touched is that spirit, that original spirit of creativity and athletes standing up and having a voice and being innovative. But I guess what the Olympics has done is provided a platform for that spirit, and that's what I see as being a really positive thing.