Quotes from Shawn Johnson

It might have been easier to retire, to say my knee couldn't handle it and let that be that. At the same time, the prospect of not being able to compete in gymnastics anymore was heartbreaking.

I've never had a teammate competing with me my whole life.

A comeback in gymnastics is almost impossible in itself.

My approach to gymnastics in Beijing was heavily based on the amount of difficulty I could do.

Gymnastics is so complex.

A typical practice consists of practicing every event for about an hour. A lot of people assume I have private coaching, but I work out with 13 other girls at the gym!

I usually work out 4 hours a day during the week and 5 to 6 hours on Saturday, with Sundays off.

Everything is about your movements and precision and timing, which is what gymnastics is about.

I don't know where I'm really going to cha cha, but hopefully I can find a place.

Gymnastics taught me everything - life lessons, responsibility and discipline and respect.

I'm trying to stay as calm as possible and focus one day at a time, but when reality sets in, I feel everything: anxiety, excitement, nerves, pressure and joy.

The body is an amazing machine... If you eat the right things your body will perform incredibly well!

I was at the Olympic Games winning medals and I still doubted my image. I doubted what I looked like. That's sad.

We're taught at such a young age that you can always be better and that you're never perfect and that you're never good enough.

I had a constant fear, a constant little doubt in my mind: 'OK, I'm getting ready to do my standing back full on beam and I might re-tear my ACL.'

My parents- they've been my biggest influences and supporters since day one. They teach me every day that happiness comes from within and not from something outside of your heart.

I pay attention to my diet to be a healthier gymnast, but I'm not obsessive over it.

I'm doing four hours of gymnastics training a day, six days a week and then an extra two to three hours in a fitness center as well.

It sounds funny, but the 2008 Olympics were something that just kind of happened, and I was lucky they came at a point when I was uninjured and well prepared. As a gymnast, you can't ask for much more.

When I was younger, my coach, Liang Chow, made all the decisions. I would go to the gym for practice, do exactly what Chow told me to do, go home, come back and start all over again. If Chow told me to do 50 squat jumps, I did 50 squat jumps.

I'm pleased to say my knee feels a lot better. It's still not back to normal, and I don't know if it ever will be, but I'm learning to deal with it instead of expecting it to be like it was before.

I have a chaperone everywhere I go - my mom.

Something my mom taught me when I was little is that everything happens for a reason.

Don't force anything. Find what you love and stick with it.