Lauren Gibbs

“Unfortunately, our sport has a weight limit, so every season, I have to lose weight. You just get tired of not eating the way you want to eat, so in the off-season, I'll binge and gain a few pounds and then have to lose them back.”

“More and more, I am realizing that life is too short to do crap that doesn't make you happy, and we only get one shot at it all.”

“Every day, I put on a suit, and I felt like I was playing dress-up in my mum's closet. It just wasn't right.”

“I can't believe where life has taken me.”

“It is funny, the things you miss about a more conventional lifestyle. I miss seemingly mundane tasks, like cleaning the kitchen, moving my furniture around to achieve just the right look, and checking the mailbox. I miss making my bed in the morning before work.”

“I'd always loved sports, and the Olympics were something I thought about often as a kid, but those dreams felt like a lifetime ago.”

“When I graduated from college, I was told I could do great things and be great, but I didn't know what that meant and what it would feel like and the work that it would take.”

“One of the most common misconceptions about Olympic sports is that they only happen at the Olympics.”

“I'm a volleyball player, so I like Lycra and Spandex.”

“I've always loved public speaking, and that's something I definitely will pursue after the Olympics.”

“For the first time in long time, I can say I love what I do. I can't say that every day is easy or fun, but there are few greater thrills in life than hurling yourself down an iced-over water slide in a carbon fiber bathtub.”

“I think that was the scariest part about bobsled, is when you just don't know what's happening, you don't know where you are on the track, you don't know when it's going to be over, and you don't know what it's supposed to feel like.”

“It is amazing how many thoughts can race through your head in a minute.”

“I've always been a risk taker. When I told my mum I was quitting my job to be a bobsledder, she wasn't surprised.”