Memorable Kristi Quotes

Skating
 

• "I've been skating for 13 years. For me, now, the ice feels normal. I'm probably more comfortable on the ice than I am walking. When I'm skating I feel like I can do anything; I feel like I can stay out there forever." (American Health, Jan-Feb 1992)
• "When I was coming up, I was known as alittle jumper. Now that has changed - to me being someone who just the artistic side of skating." (Chicago Tribune 2/7/92)
• "I want to be remembered as someone who had the techinique and the artistry with it - not just as the artist." 1991
• "Skating, if it's something you want to do, is a wonderful sport and life. It has it's ups and downs, but if you really enjoy it and work hard and believe in yourself, you can accomplish your goals - whether it's to compete at nationals or internationally, or even just to learn a new jump." (Houston Chronicle 10/14/94)
• "How can anyone love ice? Frozen water can be so painfully hard and oh so cold - just as life can be. Ice dosen't care who skates on it's surface. It doesn't care who loses it's balance and falls on it's slippery back. Still, for me, the ice is a warm place of beauty and grace - a place of complete freedom to express my emotions. Being on the ice is like being alive." (excerpt from "Always Dream")

Sacrifices

• "I feel like I missed out on regular high school social life, but that's the way I choose to be."  
• "Sometimes I just wanted to let loose and not worry about training, but in the long term I was aware of what was important to me in life, and that's what kept me in line." (both quotes from Seventeen '92)
• "It hasn't been too bad - I'm used to it. It's been an equal trade-off because of what I gotten back through skating." (People Weekly 3/20/89)

Life as an Amateur

Olympic Quotes

• Two weeks before the Olympic Games: "I don't feel I have pressure to win the gold medal" (S.L. Tribune 2/9/92)
• At the Olympics:
  • "Making the team was my dream, and once I did, I wanted to go in and really enjoy it and experience everything about the Olympics I could. That's why I went for the opening ceremonies 11 days before competition begn and stayed in the village. The first week I was there, I was hyped up; my head was turning back and forth." (The Herald 1/15/93)
  • -"By the second week I had calmed down abit and was ready for competition. I think that's why I skated well. I decided to focus on that and I felt prepared for the time on the ice." (The Herald 1/15/93)
• After the technical: "I'm alittle surprised I'm first, I can't really think of any situation that might have happened. Everyone is out there to do their best and it's not up to us if the judges prefer one or another." (S.L. Tribune 2-20-92)
• Dorothy Hamill gave Kristi a pep talk before she took the ice for the free skate: "She's one of the reasons I'm in the sport right now, and it was just a thrill to meet with her. She wanted to wish me all the best. She reminded me how hard I had worked ro get here and...told me to just go out and have fun." (S.L. Tribune 2/22/92)
• During the free skate, Kristi touched the ice with one hand to keep from falling on a triple loop and cut a triple sal to a double: "I knew the opening was very strong and when I had the loop, I didn't fight it, and then I decided to play it safe on the next jump and go for it at the end." (S.L. Tribune 2/22/92)
• Winning the Gold! :
  • "Nobody could be happier than I am right now. I still can't believe what's happening to me." (2/22/92 from S.L. Tribune)
  • "It was unbelievable at first. It was, 'This can't be happening happening, this can't really be the Olympics.' It was like all the work I had put into skating had turned out amazingly well." (The Herald 1/15/93)
• Looking back and reflecting: "I knew I had done well, and I was happy for that. But I remember thinking 'Is that it?' This is the Olympics, you've always dreamed of it, always your whole life. I didn't want it to be over yet." (Sports Illustrated 12/14/92)

With Rudy Galindo

• "I grew up with Rudy, we were always back and forth each other's houses. For awhile, we were like brother and sister."
• "[Rudy had]"an enormous talent. I had to skate up to his level at the beginning."
• "I always thought we would be skating in the [1992] Olympics and have a professional career togehter. But our lifestyles started to change and our goals seemed to be different too."
• "Everything had been so easy between us, but our final year was more and more difficult." ( all from Chicago Tribune 2/9/96)
• Split with Rudy: "To improve in one or the other, I had to choose"  (NY Times 1990)
• Missing Rudy/pairs skating= "I skated pairs for seven years and I gave it up to pursue singles. I was something I loved doing, but it was impossible to compete in both. I think our career was cut short and I miss it alot. So I loved the chance to skate pairs again in this [SOI '93] show. I was in heaven."  (The Herald 1/15/93)

Landing the Triple Axel?

• "There's no physical reason why I can't land the jump. It's just a matter of completing the jump and telling myself to land it. Once you land the jump, you tell yourself, 'Is that all I have to do?'" (St. Louis Dispatch 2/7/92)

Turning Pro...a difficult choice. Will Kristi compete or tour?

• "The only decision I've really made is not to worry about it untill after the tour [Champions on Ice] and after I've taken some time off. This is my fifth tour and we [other skaters] went right into it after the ['92] games, so I haven't thought about or really notice anything different. (Salt Lake Tribune 5-22-92)
• I was pretty overwhemled by the number of decisions I immediately had to make after the Olympics. Before, there'd been only one way: to reach my skating goals. Now there were all these different ways I could go." (Time 12/14/92)
• "Going into Albertville, I was just assumed I would go on to Lillehammer Norway, where the next Olympics will be in 1994. It was only 2 years away, and I thought my peak would be there. After Albertville went so well, I had to think whether I would go on skating like I have or should I move on and try something new. I decided to try the new challenges because I had accomplised so much more (in Albertville) than I had ever dreamed of." (The Herald 1/15/93)

Staying Pro- Kristi will not apply for reinstatement of her eligibilty for the '94 Winter games.

• "At Albertville, there were no expectations placed on me. Coming away with the gold was icing on the cake. How much better can you get?" (Time 4/5/93)
• "I thought about it and thought about it. Everything that happened in '92 was more than I had ever dreamed of - doing so well at the Olympics, wand coming back to Oakland and defending my world title. It seemed to wrap things up so perfectly. It was a great year and I was thinking, how can I top that? (Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service 11/30/93)

Professional Skating and Competitions

• "I looked forward to the change of life to professional skating. I had done absolutely my best I could as an amateur and accomplished every goal I could, and now I had another side of skating to look forward to." (CNNSI 1/9/98)
• "Pro skating is a completely different field, you can come up with whatever you want artistically." (The Record 10/20/97)
• "The moment before the music starts during big competitions, I don't think I can feel any more insecure. You think that you're going to forget your program or even forget how to skate." (Inside Edge)
• "I never go into competition thinking I have to win, that distracts me from skating." (People Weekly 3/20/89)
• Commenting on the difficulties in the competition: "Figure skating is a real up and down sport. One day you can skate really well, and you can come in 5th or 6th or last, or you can skate really well and you can come out on top - or even on a bad day. There are definitely ups and downs, competitions where I knew I had to go back and work a little harder to improve on something, but I think that's the whole process of making it." (ABC Flash)
• Kristi says that in some ways, she has a harder time skating as a professional than when she was an amateur competing in the Olympics: "It's difficult time-wise. It's hard to say 'no' to all of the events you're asked to do, and then you have to manage what's on your plate." (Salt Lake Tribune Nov 13'98)

Stars On Ice

• "There's pressure to live up to your name. People know who you are, and they expect a certain quality. It's a different pressure from amateur [skating]. Instead of going after one single event, it's every night of the week, having to be 'on' for months at a time." (Macleans 4/10/95)
• "Being able to entertain people is what keeps me going. This is my sixth year, after twenty years of competing. I can't say it is my favorite thing to do anymore. It's to a point where it gets hard. But it also is so much fun to be able to take your skating to a diffrent level. It's a tough schedule but it lets you do what you want artistically and intellectually." (San Jose Mercury 3/14/98)
• "I'm pretty exhusted at the end of the show, but this is different from Olympic competition. There's so much adrenalin pumping and we're having such a good time. You tend to forget about it. It's a major part of why I joined Stars on Ice- as oppposed to any other tour -it was limitless as far as creativity is concerned. Our ideas are important here too." (Detroit Free Press 2/7/97)
• "We're lucky to have the opportunities we do, but it's not the glamourous lifestyle people think it is. That lasts for a short time each performance, and the rest is hard work on your own. You're really got to remember your love for the sport to keep you going" (SLT 11/13/98)

Inspirational Quotes...

• "I believe that whatever it is that you really want, you have to believe in it and go out there and get it." (Chatelaine Magazine 3/95)
• "This is something I always leave with people. I say... 'Always Dream.' And to me it means... always reach for the stars and believe in yourself because reaching your personal best is what makes life so special." (Nickelodeon Online Chat 5/27/97)

Miscellaneous

• Question: Do you have a philosophy regarding food? Kristi's answer: Some people eat to live. I live to eat. (from Bon Appetit Magazine 3/97)
• "What they had is what everyone wants. My first year on tour, I watch them almost every night. I'd go out and stand in a corner and just watched them. They just floated across the ice." [Speaking about Gordeeva and Grinkov] (from the book "Inside Edge")
• Talking about spending a day at the golf course- "I try. I don't know if you'd call it golf. (with a laugh) I usually call it croquet. It just rolls along the ground. It's fun. Everyone in my family golfs except my mom, and most of my friends do, and all the people in Stars golf." (IFS 8/98)
• Speaking about Tara Lipinski's "controversial" decision to turn professional- "There has always been and will always be that controversy --that we're these fluffs competing and that things are being thrown on TV. But hey, it's fun. I remember in '93 when, the reinstatement period was coming to an end, someone compared me not staying (eligible) to Patrick Ewing leaving to join the Harlem Globetrotters"

Back to the Literature Page

Homepage