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I couldn't believe just how emotional I was about the London Olympics. Before the Games even started, I was reading a newspaper sitting in a hair salon and my mom looked over at me and I was just sobbing, because something about seeing the rings and hearing the athletes' excitement and just kind of knowing exactly what they were going through.
Tessa Virtue
School's always been very important to me.
Throughout a competitive career, you can certainly lose yourself trying to please the judges.
I was always the youngest and I think girls, period, try to psych each other out, there are a lot of head games.
For athletes, it is unhealthy to be one-sport focused, especially at a young age. I believe in exposing kids to lots of activities - there are great advantages to being a well-rounded athlete and human, no matter the field of play.
I do feel different whether I'm in the gym or on the ice when I have a cute outfit on. I think most girls can relate - you carry yourself differently.
I don't often wear perfume, because I am sensitive to smells, but vanilla has a warmth to it, and it's inviting and soft.
Experience is a really wonderful thing, and in a way we've been fortunate to have had so many ups and downs in our career, and a lot of struggles and a lot of sacrifices. But again, that's just an athlete's story.
There's a difference between feeling nervous and feeling: 'I'm not worthy of taking the ice.'
It's funny that I love golf so much because I'm not usually drawn to things I'm not so good at. It's all about practice and working and not getting discouraged.
When we're choreographing, we're on the ice five or six hours a day. The setting for your skin is just horrendous - the stress and the competition makeup and the training itself.
We have the opportunity to make people feel something, feel some emotion, and then also we get to be just pure athletes, and from a pure technical standpoint do things are really technically demanding, and very challenging. So it's that balance between the two that we love. And we love to play with the limits and push ourselves.
We're always learning about our bodies and learning how to take care of them properly and how to perform at our best.
At all times, there's discussion about the percentage of body fat I have, how I look on the ice and about how much skin a certain costume is showing.
I want people to like me and, if there's any doubt, I sort of worry.
My grandmother used to make the most incredible chicken divan, and my mom has carried out that tradition. It's my comfort food. It's amazing how you can almost taste the memories with a dish like that! And the more leftovers, the better.
I think everyone struggles to feel comfortable in their skin or has at one time or another.
You have your best workouts when you go in thinking you don't want to do it, because you're so satisfied with your own determination and grit.
I've learned a lot about pain management.
Given my travels, I've learned to be more open and feel much more comfortable experimenting with food.
My mom has always shopped for me. I'm so lucky that I have an in-house stylist.
I always love rosy cheeks, so I am all about blush.
I really want to learn French so I think it would be great to go and live in France and maybe learn the language for a few months.
Long-term I would love to go to law school.
When I am home on a weekend, you can bet I am relaxing in sweats!
You're never going to regret working out or being active. You might regret not doing it, you might regret pressing that snooze button, but you'll never regret getting physically active.
It's nice to socialize with some normal students, and kind of separate from my skating life with academics.
I definitely dress based on my mood.
Ultimately, and I can appreciate this as I get older, those quirks and those differences are what I find so attractive about other people, that's what I think being beautiful is.
I want to ensure that I'm sending the right messages and that I'm empowering others, and doing things that feel like they're in line with my values.
Women in figure skating, like in every other industry, are expected to conform to an unrealistic standard of beauty. Unhealthy habits are often encouraged to promote a thin frame, and young girls idealize a skewed definition of 'fit.'
I never want to be randomly posing with a product or putting my name to a brand arbitrarily.
Sometimes I need a pump-up song.
My cottage is on Lake Huron and it's always nice to have the chance to get away and hear the waves crashing while reading a good book.
Part of the attraction to golf may be that it's just a score on the sheet and there's not much you can do about it.
I've always been such a private person. Even stepping into social media was a new world for me.
A lot of the emotions we portray are universal themes that resonate with everyone, so the fact that people feel invested in our partnership is truly remarkable.
I am a big fan of white sheets, hotel bedding and white towels!
The honour of carrying the Canadian flag... brings with it a sense of duty, privilege, and above all, great pride.
I am actually quite boring!
There's no easy way to the top of anything, but it's a lot of hard work and I feel maybe I have the confidence in that recipe, or the confidence in myself.
Everyone has those insecurities, everyone doubts themselves but it's how we handle that as humans and as people and how we support one another and how we really embrace the things that make us unique.
It's so uncommon for athletes to push themselves the way they do and not have injuries as a result.
My proficiency with ballet was on a steep decline the more I skated.
I joined the Young Philanthropists Circle at the Musee Des Beaux Arts, we have little events every month where you learn about a different artist and you see the exhibit and you get an inside an inside look at the technique used.
Understanding my worth in the market is part of my job, and ensuring I am valued is important to me. I love negotiating, and do so frequently for contracts. I am fair and reasonable, but willing to walk away if a deal cannot be struck.
It's very tough to transfer ballroom technique onto the ice, to give the illusion of the proper hip motion and position, with the speed and glide of the blade.
I have this platform that I've worked hard for, but now I want to make use of it.
Any chance we have to skate for another Olympic medal, it's amazing.
I don't think I'm going to look back and wish that I spent more time worrying about my muscles or fat or whatever.
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