My doctor told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.

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What do you do after you are world-famous and nineteen or twenty and you have sat with prime ministers, kings and queens, the Pope? Do you go back home and take a job? What do you do to keep your sanity? You come back to the real world.

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By the time I was 12 I was challenging every boy in our neighborhood at running, jumping, everything.

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I loved the feeling of freedom in running, the fresh air, the feeling that the only person I'm competing with is me.

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I believe in me more than anything in this world.

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My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces.

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No matter what great things you accomplish, somebody helps you.

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I'm in my prime. There's no goal too far, no mountain too high.

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The feeling of accomplishment welled up inside of me, three Olympic gold medals. I knew that was something nobody could ever take away from me, ever.

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I don't know why I run so fast. I just run.

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