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.
Ashley Wagner
I haven't mastered the art of sitting and smiling.
When I fall, I fall hard.
Off the ice, I can be soft, and I can be elegant and sweet.
Nothing has been easy for me... I've always had to work for everything I've gotten and everything I've accomplished.
I'm not a pretty princess, and I'm aware of that, so I like music that is really intense, really bold, and characters that in a way almost have a dark side and are kind of evil because, for me, that's when I feel my strongest and fiercest, when I'm not necessarily the good girl.
I try to stay low-carb and high on lean protein. I'm lucky in that I love chicken and rice; it's one of my favorite meals. I steam some vegetables and top them with olive oil for some flavor.
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.
A lot of people who watch figure skaters want us to look like pretty princesses. I want people to see the athlete, and I want to look like a woman among girls.
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!
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.
The fact that an icon would even utter my name or have any idea of who I am is absolutely unreal.
I just believe in equality for all.
Years ago, I tore out a Nike ad featuring Allyson Felix and Maria Sharapova looking super fierce and tough. I always told my family that I wanted to be like them someday, so to come home to my apartment and see boxes of Nike gear stacked higher than my doorknob is pretty much a dream come true.
I hate doing Tabatas - you do whatever you want at high intensity for 20 seconds, and then get a 10 second break and you repeat that for 8 minutes. So you can do jumping jacks for 20 seconds, you can do sprints for 20 seconds, etc. It's supposed to help you get your endurance up really fast.
I'm so proud to be an Army brat, but it was not an easy life. Moving around so much, skating was that one constant thing I had to hold on to.
I love hanging out with friends and family.
I love 'The Vampire Diaries!' I can't help it - it's such a teeny-bopper show, but I think I just like it to stare at the guys.
Covergirl is my sponsor, and they have been so helpful in supplying me with their wonderful products. I love their blush, mascara and lip gloss.
You should not be defined by one bad performance.
For me, I have gay family members, and I have a lot of friends in the LBGT community.
When my parents were paying for my sport, it wasn't just me out on the ice. Pretty much every dollar my mom made teaching went into my skating.
I think the great thing about social media is it gives people access to you on a totally personal level that they didn't have before, so it's really important, and it's a great way to get people involved and excited about what you're doing.
When I step out onto the ice to compete 'Romeo and Juliet,' I don't feel like a fighter. I feel very nervous, and it's very difficult for me to get into the mindset for it.
Adding an Olympic medal to everything that I have already accomplished would be so huge for me.
Skaters are infamously superstitious.
Twitter is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
When I'm competing, I need to be strong.
I'm the type of skater that needs to stay upbeat and relaxed, open, because if I stay quiet, I get in my head, and then I start to think too much and start to doubt.
I'm a show pony, and I don't get to skate with girls doing triple Axels every single day. I skate with little babies who are working on their single Axels while trying not to hit them on the ice.
I can adapt to change easily, but I'm not a fan of it.
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.
You always imagine everything will go so smoothly in the Olympic season.
Skating is one of those sports you unfortunately see people get stuck in.
I'm not a crier.
In 2010, I was 17 or 18 and thought, 'Yeah, the Olympics, that might happen.'
To have full and multiple criteria is the best way to decide who is best prepared to be on that Olympic team.
People don't want to watch a sport where you see people fall down and somehow score above someone who goes clean.
To put on a performance, you have to be emotional. You can't be a zombie.
From a young age, I was viciously competitive.
I'm such a strong-headed person and so stubborn, I don't need someone to be sweet to me.
I'm scrappy.
Some skaters, they live for skating, and they are home-schooled. I'm very lucky my parents let me go to school and have a normal life.
My parents told me, 'Skating is a privilege, not a right, and school always comes first.'
I'm always looking for a way to give myself something new as a person.
The SoCal weather can't be beat, but I just haven't quite been able to embrace the lifestyle.
If I train well and stay focused, I'm confident I can deliver when the time comes.
I'm not one for neon colors.
When I do my makeup, it kind of helps me get into the character that I'm trying to portray.
I am going to get involved with giving back to military families.
