Generally, speed skaters don't run that much. I'm a little bit of an exception in that I run a lot.
Apolo Ohno
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.
Ashley Wagner
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.
Skaters are infamously superstitious.
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.
I live with fellow speed skaters and National Team members Heather Richardson, Sugar Todd and Mitch Whitmore, and Sugar lives up to her name. She spoils our household with baked goods, and not just at Christmastime.
Brittany Bowe
I know that I am the kind of person that gets a little bit more nervous than other skaters, but that's because I care for my skating very much. I take all my emotions with me. I can't go out and say 'Now, this is just my job.' I really care.
Carolina Kostner
That's what really makes great skating competitions. When you have two top skaters in good form giving superb performances.
Dick Button
My legs are ice skaters' legs. No tan in sight.
Dorothy Hamill
In my teen years leading up to the Olympics, I loved having the excuse to skip out on parties because of skating. Partying wasn't my thing anyway. Mostly I hung out with other skaters. We were all buddies, so it's not like I missed out on socializing. I was really enjoying myself.
I have a very close friendship with the skaters.
Eric Heiden
We had a party with the rest of the skaters in our trailer and then the next day we were off to see Jimmy Carter. And then we had the World Championships the next weekend, so not a lot of chance to catch up.
While I circled around and around in my brown rental skates, I studied a group of skaters spinning in the center. I was fascinated! When my mom picked me up, I began a campaign for skating lessons.
Gracie Gold
The only reason skaters hang around this guy is because he's Lil Wayne, but they don't like him. I've talked to skaters; nobody likes Wayne as a skateboarder.
Hopsin
Young people - and skaters - are very, very open-minded.
James Jebbia
We were one of the first to say, 'Let's make a really nice shirt for skaters and let's make it really well.' We don't dumb down for somebody young; we are always trying to do something new.
I like to watch surfers and skaters that are really fast and really powerful and everything flows.
John John Florence
I am an American man, and in America, we still think of figure skaters as little girls in pretty, sparkly dresses - I worked very hard to change the perception and image of figure skating, and I think I've done a great job on my end, but in figure skating, taste needs to evolve.
Johnny Weir
Statistically, I'd say there are about as many gay figure skaters as there are gay football players. The majority are straight. There are just those few exceptions, and those are the ones who have gotten picked on and followed over the years.
I love teaching the younger skaters.
Kaetlyn Osmond
Korean audiences are amazing. The fans scream so loud, and that really surprises skaters when they first perform in my shows.
The popularity of figure skating has increased tremendously, and Koreans have a huge interest in figure skaters - not only me, other international skaters as well.
I have been compared to Mao since we were both junior skaters. We've felt the rivalry since then, so we wanted to avoid each other. However, she has been my motivation.
If, by any chance, I get to perform, then it would be a great honor for me. Especially because performing in the Olympics in your country doesn't happen to many skaters.
Watching previous figure skaters, I always wondered why they cried after their performance.
Figure skaters have awful perceptions of hockey players.
Doing shows is always a side of skating that I've loved, it's the performing. I get to do that without the pressure, it's always fun between the skaters and the preparation, the show is always so much fun.
Looking back, I feel very fortunate to have had such a long career. Many skaters end their careers in their early 20s. I had the opportunity to go to two Olympic Games - almost three after being the alternate in 1994 and then in 2006 being injured.
You see figure skaters fall all the time. It's the way you pick yourself back up and keep going.
I tell aspiring young skaters to dream big, work hard, have fun, and follow their passion. It's simple to say never give up, but learn from your mistakes to keep growing.
Figure skaters are usually young and then just fade away. But I'm not a fade-away kind of person.
There's a lot of skaters that I look up to, and I think my biggest skating role models were the two Russian competitors at the 2002 Olympic games in Salt Lake City. They really motivated me to follow my passion in skating, and it really blossomed from there.
That's something I'm actually very interested in doing, helping young skaters.
I do very scientific-based training. However, for skating, that's a little bit out of the ordinary. Many skaters base their off-ice training around plyometrics, whereas mine is very strength- and power-based.
My dad had this thing - everyone in Canada wants to play hockey; that's all they want to do. So when I was a kid, whenever we skated my dad would not let us on the ice without hockey sticks, because of this insane fear we would become figure skaters!
Pairs skating and singles are two different things. Although some skaters have achieved this successfully, it is a very difficult transition. You're looking at double work.
There would not be Skaters or Emeralds or any of these bands if it weren't for Double Leopards.
Although it's hard some days to wake up an hour earlier to do the gym workout as opposed to other skaters who just show up to the rink, I know that if I don't do it, my day will be much worse. I might as well not even skate, actually.
Traditionally, skaters tend to tie their skates very tightly. I tend to just tie my foot down, then in the ankle area, I tend to keep it loose. It gives me better mobility. But also, you're relying on your own strength as opposed to resting on the boot.
When I go to competitions, I don't have so much confidence that I don't worry or get nervous about the other skaters doing well.
No one can fathom that the top 200 pro street skaters run from cops on the weekends and use a generator and lights to light up a handrail at 2 in the morning to get a trick that's going to be in an advertisement that will be shown around the world.
At most contests now, skaters are judged against themselves.
Skaters, I think they tend to be outsiders who seek a sense of belonging, but belonging on their own terms, and real respect is given by how much we take what other guys do, these basic tricks, 360 flips, we take that, we make it our own, and then we contribute back to the community the inner way that edifies the community itself.
A lot of skaters hole themselves up in hotels and focus - and that's great, and that may work for them. But for me, having the Olympic experience was as great as winning the medal. I have so many memories of living in the village and meeting other athletes, seeing other sports, and feeling the energy. It's so magical.
When the rules of judging skating in international competition changed in 2004 with the goal of making judging more transparent, one of the consequences was the rewarding of skaters who attempt more challenging technical elements in the pursuit of ever more points.
I changed high schools three times because my parents moved. I had one friend my freshman year named Miki Vukovich. Miki and I were the only skaters in our high school. He runs my foundation now.
The pro skaters I know are responsible members of society. Many of them are fathers, homeowners, world travelers and successful entrepreneurs. Their hairdos and tattoos are simply part of our culture, even when they raise eyebrows during PTA meetings.
