I Won My First Medal When I

I Took Group Lessons At A Rink Near My Home. We First Had To Learn How To Stand Up On The Ice Wearing Skates. Eventually We Learned To Move Forward, But Soon Found Out That It Was Not That Easy To Stop! So That Was Our Next Important Lesson.

People Would Ask Me Why I Was Doing What I Was Doing - But I Always Told Them That I Just Loved To Skate. There Was No Other Explanation.

My Parents Never Pressured Me To Skate. They Always Said I Could Quit If I Wanted To. They Only Expected Me To Skate When They Had Already Paid For The Expensive Lessons. But, Otherwise They Said I Could Do What I Wanted To Do.

I Started Skating When I Was Six Years Old.

But It Seems That The Judging Maybe They Shouldn't At Least See The Practices All Week Long. That Can Taint The Way They Go Into The Judging And The Outlook Of What's Going To Happen, Instead Of Just Watching Those Four Minutes And Judging On Those Minutes Alone.