Top 35 Kristi Yamaguchi Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “An athlete gains so much knowledge by just participating in a sport. Focus, discipline, hard work, goal setting and, of course, the thrill of finally achieving your goals. These are all lessons in life.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

2. “I never wanted to feel I hadn’t worked hard enough.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

3. “Every day, someone realizes a dream. I believe dreams help light our darkness and give us the push we need to move across the rink of life.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

4. “I’m always looking for inspiring ways to stay motivated and stay active.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

5. “They say, once you have a child, your heart is forever outside your body. I totally understand that now.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

6. “I always try to start out with some type of goal. Then I work backward and think of what I need to do to get there, and give myself smaller goals that are more immediate.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

7. “Before turning pro, I would never have just left my skates sitting in the locker room unattended.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

8. “I feel like I missed out on the regular high school social life, but that’s the way I chose to be.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

9. “I’ve realized how precious life is. When I was younger, I was more adventurous. I felt invincible. I was game for everything. As a mom, I don’t want to get injured because then I can’t take care of my kids.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

10. “I’d try to channel my nervous energy in a positive way into strength and endurance. It didn’t always work.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

11. “Growing up as an athlete, I started skating very young. My parents didn’t know anything about the sport, so they went with the flow. I had two great coaches who gave great advice and gave guidelines for my parents. My parents let the coaches dictate what was going on on the ice.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

12. “As a teenager especially, I just wanted to do my thing and not be noticed.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

13. “I’m kind of a homebody. My husband says I like to just stay home and do nothing, but that’s just how I am.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

14. “The good feeling I get from contributing rivals anything I felt on the Olympic stand in Albertville.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

15. “I learned to put 100 percent into what you’re doing. I learned about setting goals for yourself, knowing where you want to be and taking small steps toward those goals. I learned about adversity and how to get past it.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

16. “Winning in women’s singles felt surreal. I felt that everything I had done – the hard work, the tough times – was all worth it.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

17. “My experience at the 1992 Winter Olympics was my fulfillment of dreaming the Impossible Dream.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

18. “Having achieved my own dreams, I want to give to kids who are less fortunate, who struggle with everyday obstacles. I want to give them something positive in their lives: support.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

19. “Dorothy Hamill was my big idol as a kid. She’d won the Olympics in 1976. She was America’s sweetheart with her personality, her talent, her haircut.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

20. “Being an athlete, you know how to train and prepare your body for a performance and you’re able to do it under pressure.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

21. “I don’t know how many people really knew who I was before the Olympics and that’s the fun thing of the Olympics – you get to know someone who captures your heart, hopefully.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

22. “One of my mottos not only just in skating but in life in general and I try to enforce it as well, is like no regrets and just like going for it.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

23. “Skating was something I really wanted to do; my parents knew nothing about it. They said they’d support me as long as I was trying my hardest and enjoying it.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

24. “In terms of my career, having the gold definitely changed my life. The Olympics are different, you know? They’re every four years and it’s such a small group.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

25. “As a professional, I think we’re not being judged solely on technical ability anymore. People really want to be entertained and enjoy what they’re watching.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

26. “I didn’t want to skate for someone else or for certain marks.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

27. “The past couple years training with Kurt have really brought inspiration into my skating.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

28. “Now, I am thrilled to be a wife and mother, and I hope to be as good of a mother as my own mother, Carole.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

29. “Training for the Olympics was a lifelong endeavor and took many years.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

30. “I don’t mind the sparkle – I think it’s kind of a tradition in skating. I don’t think the men really need sparkles, but for the women it’s part of the glamour of our sport.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

31. “At 6 years old, the ice became a place for me to express myself. Because I was so shy off the ice, it became my safe haven, with music and freedom and self-expression. That was my emotional outlet.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

32. “Childhood reading is so important.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

33. “With 30,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations from the seasonal flu, those numbers are certainly higher than what we’ve seen of the swine flu. Protecting yourself from both viruses is very important.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

34. “There are two or three performances in your life that are absolutely on, where all the planets are lined up for you and you feel you’re invincible.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

35. “Probably a few weeks after I was born I started having casts put on my legs to straighten them out. After that corrective shoes and with a brace in between.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

36. “I’ve always worked closely with the designers and whoever’s making the costumes. Comfort is the last thing you want on your mind when you’re competing. In an ideal situation, you’ll have something where you’ll put it on and you’re fine and you don’t have to worry about it at all.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

37. “I burnt myself out of skating. I was ready to focus on being a mom.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi

38. “Figure skaters have awful perceptions of hockey players.”

— Kristi Yamaguchi