Mikaela Shiffrin Quotations

When I'm in the starting gate, it's just me and the hill.

Most people just see ski racing during the Olympics.

My dream job has always been to be a ski racer.

People watch the Olympics because they want to believe in heroes; I know I did.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that carbs are bad. It's a fad right now. Full disclosure: I'm sponsored by Barilla. But I've always been free about saying I love carbs, including pasta, in moderation.

I have all these things I want to do, but I don't have to do them right away. Because it's not just about winning, it's about succeeding, which to me are two different things.

I get this adrenaline rush from just going down the course and feeling like I made a really great turn and I'm going to do it again and again and again. That feeling can't be replaced, and that's the feeling I'm striving to get every time I go out there.

Out on the hill under the helmet, nobody sees your face or hair, but then you take it off, and they do - that's the part I'm nervous about.

My parents strapped a pair of plastic skis on my boots when I was two years old and sent me down our driveway in Vail. Of course, they were holding on to me the whole time, but that was my first experience 'skiing.'

Whether it's learning to hit a backhand in tennis, learning high school chemistry, or getting better at ski racing, I really believe with hard work and analytic preparation, you can skip a few steps and find the faster way.

During the season, one of the most important things to eat is the carbs. Protein's really important, too, but it's the carbs that are important because I have to consistently refuel for the next day.

Things you don't expect come up, and you have to adapt. You can't let it throw you off. You have to cope. Those are all really valuable skills, in life and racing.

I've always wanted to do things as fast as possible.

People tell me an Olympic medal is a life-changing event. Except I don't even think about the medal unless someone asks about it.

Dream big, but don't be upset if it doesn't happen.

It rained a lot in New Hampshire, and when I skied, the snow was icy and hard, and the mountains were small.

I've learned some quick tricks about how to fix my hair so I can dash somewhere unexpected and still be O.K. when someone stops me to take a picture.

I'm not really seeing pressure as a negative.

I have some really lofty goals that don't even scratch upon the Olympics.

I love traveling and seeing new things, learning the histories of different cultures. But I've always wanted to go to the Galapagos to see the giant turtles.

I like it when hard work pays off.

I have never limited myself by focusing much on being a 'normal' teenager.

In the end, I want to be an inspiration to somebody.

I haven't had to make a decision between 'my brand' and money. Everybody seems to get what I'm going for: the healthy lifestyle, staying active, being young and youthful.

If you strive toward the perfect run, accepting that you will always come up short of that is very intriguing. It makes me think about how in life in general, we always want to strive toward perfection, but sometimes perfection would be the worst thing.

I just - I fell in love with the sport when I started to ski gates. Once I was allowed to start training gates around 6 years old, then I really fell in love with it.

I just have tried to adapt to the constant changes that happen all the time in my schedule and try and find any sort of mini-predictability and balance within my very unpredictable life.

I don't really have time or interest in doing a lot of the crazy things that some of my teenage peers do, mostly because I have such a hectic life that I don't need to add to that chaos by creating my own teenage drama like a lot of teenagers do.

If I hadn't come East as a kid, I might still be a World Cup racer today, but I wouldn't be the same World Cup racer.

I do doubles on Monday and Thursday, take Wednesday off or do easy cardio, do doubles on Thursday and Friday, and the weekend I just get outside and get active - jog or bike ride, or play tennis with my mom.

When I was 3 years old, I thought I was very good at skiing.

I think its good to stimulate your mind.

A perfect day for me would just be a day that goes the way I plan.

I have been here before in my head. To everyone else, it is my first Olympics. To me, it's my thousandth.

I was lucky enough that my parents knew about World Cup skiing, so since I was really little, we were watching World Cup winning runs.

I remember skiing being a family recreational thing.

I may have become a world champion quicker than most, but people should look at me and realise there are all kinds of ways to get where you want to go. Because we didn't plan it. We just did it.

You can create your own miracle, but you do it by never looking past all the little steps along the way.

It's like a puzzle or a painting or music. When I ski, it's like a song. I can hear the rhythm in my head, and when I start to ski that rhythm and I start to really link my turns together, all of a sudden there's so much flow and power that I just can't help but feel amazing. That's where the joy comes from.

You can't ever make the perfect run, but you can make the best run, and then you clock the fastest time, and that's a win.

The harsh cold and windburn from hours of skiing does a lot of damage to my skin, so I try to keep my skin as moisturized as possible.