I don't want to compete. I want to skate for the joy. I get so nervous in competition. I get always sick. I had pressures enough in my life from skating.

Sometimes I even now feel like a stranger in my country. But I knew there would be problems because I had seen the world as a skater. And now? A lot of people in eastern Germany have lost jobs, rents went up, food costs went up, unemployment went to 20 percent. Freedom is good, but it is not easy.

When you see the audiences and the smiling faces at the shows it really makes up for the work that you put in. I have a job I really love so whatever hecticness comes up - I'll just deal with it.

When you're young, you don't think very far ahead. You just think in terms of the next day, the next week, the next competition. You don't think about injuries that could threaten your long-term health.

I can't say, 'It doesn't matter if you win or lose.' It's not true. You go in to win.

Almost nothing is presented to you on a silver platter. You have to really work for it.

Every man prefers to look at a well-shaped woman instead of a rubber ball.

Figure skating is a mixture of art and sport.

I hope that I can maintain my skating as long as possible.

I learned not to depend on other people. I needed support, but it's you who has to go out and deliver.

I never had a serious injury that kept me out of a big competition. Now everyone has injuries - to their feet or their knees or their backs.

I never really like to skate in an empty ice rink; I always need the attention of an audience.

I started the class late. The teacher said I would have to learn as much in half a year that the others learned in a year. I did it.

I want to see sunrises in the mountains. You never get to see such things enough in a lifetime. I want to see more.

I was an athlete. And I proved I didn't win just because I was pretty. I was good, too.

I was the very first athlete in East Germany allowed to go professional.

I'm the sort of person who needs a big mountain in front of me to climb.

It's hard work to make a four-minute program look effortless and elegant.

It's not like I didn't do anything for 10 years and chose a new profession. I've been on the ice a lot. I'm not an outsider.

Money was never the motivation. It never should be in sports.