I was an athlete. And I proved I didn't win just because I was pretty. I was good, too.

I was the very first athlete in East Germany allowed to go professional.

I can't say, 'It doesn't matter if you win or lose.' It's not true. You go in to win.

Skating taught me to set a goal and to block out other things and just focus on this one thing.

When you see the audiences and the smiling faces at the shows it really makes up for the work that you put in. I have a job I really love so whatever hecticness comes up - I'll just deal with it.

Sometimes I even now feel like a stranger in my country. But I knew there would be problems because I had seen the world as a skater. And now? A lot of people in eastern Germany have lost jobs, rents went up, food costs went up, unemployment went to 20 percent. Freedom is good, but it is not easy.