Quotes from Ashley Wagner

Skaters are infamously superstitious.

My mom devised a plan to get me out of the house and gave me the choice between ballet or skating. She knew both of those sports were time-consuming and would keep me busy with hours of practice.

People don't want to watch a sport where you see people fall down and somehow score above someone who goes clean.

I'm not one for neon colors.

When I'm competing, I need to be strong.

I think growing up in skating, I was surrounded by the LGBT community, so I grew up very aware because I was around it so often, and some of the kindest people I know are gay figure skaters.

I'm such a strong-headed person and so stubborn, I don't need someone to be sweet to me.

Off the ice, I can be soft, and I can be elegant and sweet.

The SoCal weather can't be beat, but I just haven't quite been able to embrace the lifestyle.

When I do my makeup, it kind of helps me get into the character that I'm trying to portray.

I want people to see a real person on the ice. I want to seem tangible, hard-working, passionate about my skating, not just going out and doing something I've rehearsed a million times.

To have full and multiple criteria is the best way to decide who is best prepared to be on that Olympic team.

You should not be defined by one bad performance.

In this crazy, crazy world of figure skating, it is easy to focus on a name or a target. But when you are going after someone, it really only holds you back from what you are capable of yourself.

I give myself a cheat day where I annihilate my diet. I'm an all-American girl, so I go for a burger and fries and a shake.

I'm very much a technical person.

Yu Na Kim, Mao Asada, Carolina Kostner - all these girls can do triple-triples in their sleep, and they have the skating skills and the spins and the rest of the technical jumps. So I have to have that as well if I want to be able to call myself 'competitive' against them. And when I say 'competitive,' I mean I want to win.

I went through my awkward teenage years. I don't want to go back.

I am going to get involved with giving back to military families.

After a pretty amazing year that included more wins than I thought possible, I rang in 2013 by watching the Times Square ball drop on TV... and then heading directly to bed. It might not have been the typical New Year's Eve for a 21-year-old, but what can I say? It was a training night!

When I fall, I fall hard.

I live in California, so I do stand-up paddle board, which is a killer workout. I also run, about four miles every three days.

I was very much a tomboy. I just couldn't do the pink ballet tutus.

I might be more of a tomboy on the ice, but when it comes to fashion and things like that, I'm a total girlie-girl.