I always say, 'When the Olympics are happening, you shouldn't be in any other place in the planet - you should be here.'

I like to tell young people to work hard for your goals and live in the moment.

My parents were very loving, but disciplinarians.

I have had a few turning points, the first day I entered a gymnastics school at age 6.

Of course, most people remember that I received the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics competition.

I worked hard in gymnastics since the time I was six years old until I retired at 23 years of age.

Of course, I grew up in Communist Romania, but I am happy to say that now our country is democratic, and prospering, since the revolution in 1989.

We are not coaching on a daily basis because we often travel with our charity and commercial interests.

As an Olympic champion gymnast, I have always stayed involved in my sport.

It was good to be a kid because I did not realise all the things that came with the success. Going to the Games, I was asked what I expected to do.

I hoped to win a medal and hoped it would be gold. I knew I was good but didn't know I would be the one to score something that had never been done before.

Everything I do today is because of what I did when I was 14.

It's like someone important is missing from a party because you can't imagine an Olympic gymnastics competition without Romania.

We developed a system in Romania that was very successfully continued for a number of years, but I don't know if it was because of some conflict in the organisation or whether there was government interference... but somehow, they have forgotten the importance of raising gymnasts to be ready for every Olympics.

Uchimura is the greatest of all time.

I was a perfectionist in gymnastics.

Every generation comes with a unique athlete, I don't think anybody wants to be the next Nadia; they want to be themselves.

Other kids had more talent, but I was the most focused.

I remember everything from 1976. I remember I was 14, and I remember my routines.

I remember before the Olympics, I was asked, 'What do you think you're going to do in the Olympics?' and I said, 'I'm hoping I'm going to win a medal, and, if possible, it's going to be a gold one.'

At 14, you think you compete, you retire and you get a job. I didn't think gymnastics was a career that was going to change my life.

I thought I was going to retire at 20, and I was going to be a surgeon.

I didn't know I wanted to be a gymnast; I was just introduced to the gym. I loved the place because it looked like a hi-tech playground with mats and a lot of things I can hang from.

At some particular time, when I was 14 years old, I've done something that people didn't expect.

I think that when you are on a four-inch balance beam, you don't care about laughing or smiling or waving to the crowd because you're going to be down in a second.

I had more pressure when I competed in Moscow. I had no pressure in Montreal because I only went to do my routines and hoping I didn't mess it up when I was on the bar. When I came back, 10,000 people were at the airport and I thought, 'Why?' because, in my mind, I hadn't done anything different from what I used to do in my gym.

People think you have pressure when you are young. It's the other way round, actually.

Gymnastics should be popular everywhere; you just need the right person to start the right programme.

Gymnastics was my way to travelling the world.

I am not a perfect 10 anymore. I can only try my best.

We only had white socks in Romania. But when I used to come back from the States, I used to bring back pink and yellow socks with all kind of designs, and hair clips and elastic bands for the ponytail that had colourful designs.

In Montreal, I kept thinking, 'Pay attention: this is the Olympics! It only happens once every four years!'

I am very highly appreciated in my country, and everybody seems to love me.

I like America. I don't want to hurt America.

To me, family is what is important. If you don't have it, nothing is going to matter.

The - I don't want to say older, but the more experienced I get, I treasure and I honor what I've done much more.

People always accused me of not smiling like my rival Olga Korbut, but that was just my personality. When you're balancing on a nine-inch beam, you have to concentrate. But if you look back at the footage, I was always smiling and waving at the crowd after my performances.

It was my mother who got me involved in gymnastics, sending me to classes when I was six just to stop me doing back flips on the couch and destroying the furniture.

Two days after returning from Montreal, I was training again, and I went on to win two more golds at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

After retiring from competition in 1981, I did exhibitions and coached.

I think a lot of people don't actually know me. They think, 'She's like this,' or, 'She's like that.' They say I have no emotions - I do, but you couldn't see them then. I had to keep them inside.

Gymnastics is so huge in the Olympics. There are a lot of fans who want to see more.

I wasn't allowed to leave Romania. That made me mad. You just want your freedom. You want your space. You want opportunity.

When I got married in Bucharest, there were 10,000 people on the street. People didn't go to work that day. It was emotional to see how people care about you. I didn't expect that.

See, when I went to the Olympics in '76, the gymnastics people knew that I was good, but everybody else, after I won, everybody was like, 'Where's she coming from? Who is she? What is Romania?'

In the '80 Olympics... people expected me to win. I was good enough to win, and I made a mistake and ended up second, which is pretty good, too.

When you're growing up, you realize you've got a lot of heavy things on your shoulders.

Now, I have a kid, I have businesses to take care of, I have to travel. I have to sit down... and find a little time for me.

I work out every day, but my idea is to make something short. I work out a maximum half hour. I only do like 20 minutes of cardio, and I do some stretching and some light weights, and I'm out of there.

I'm not a dreamer for, you know, 'I want to go to the moon someday.' I accomplished something when I was young, which was much more than I expected to. My results were much bigger than I ever dreamed about it.