(Reuters) – Following are some memorable quotes from the Pyeongchang Olympics on Friday:
“My family has sacrificed absolutely everything for me. My mom left her job working for Oracle in the Silicon Valley in California when I was eight, so that we could go to different places in the country to train. My father has been living by himself at home. We’re a single-income family.” – American figure skater Vincent Zhou on the support from his family.
“This was an amazing venue. Ten seconds before I go out there I was like, ‘I’m skating in the Olympics and I almost wanted to cry.’ I had to bring myself back and just focus again and said, ‘I’m just at another competition’.” – Canadian figure skater Keegan Messing on making his Olympic debut.
Danish curler Rasmus Stjerne on the expression ‘Be Bold’ written in blue ink on his right hand: “It’s a quote that’s very special to me, so I use that as a pre-game routine. I felt I needed a little more edge, just to calm myself, because you’re really tense out there.”
“I won’t complain because I was injured at the beginning of the season, so for me it was already a victory to be here… this was a great lesson today. Maybe see you in four years and maybe it will be different.” – French alpine skier Blaise Giezendanner after finishing fourth in the super-G.
“When you are jumping off a ramp and you hit water it doesn’t feel like water. The snow hurts too, especially with this ice.” – Canadian alpine skier Erin Mielzynski, who is also an elite-level water skier, talks about painful crashes in both disciplines.
American Madison Hubbell on growing up with fellow ice dancer Evan Bates: “My brother and Evan were best friends but we lived a little far from the rink, so many times during the week I would stay in his home and his mum would make a ‘casual dinner’ which was really an Italian feast of pasta and 15 entrees. I used to watch his brother mow the lawn. His brother was pretty cute.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
