I think everyone at school experiences some form of bullying. With kids at school, it can be anything - it can be your shoes or the wrong bag or anything. If you are big like I am, you are always going to be a target. So I decided at school to make myself an even bigger target, if you like: to make myself as big as I could be.

If you're big at school, you've really got two choices. You're going to be a target. If you go to school, and you're me, you go, 'Right - I'm just going to make myself a bigger target. My confidence, it will terrify them.' That's how I felt in school.

There is really no one who hasn't made mistakes in their career. I'm always shocked that people would be so surprised that I might make mistakes. Martin Scorsese has made mistakes - why can't I?

When the 'Guardian' is commissioning writers to write obituary pieces about you and your career... it doesn't get much nastier than that. And you've just got to go, 'It doesn't actually matter.'

As an athlete living in a very competitive environment there are always times when you are questioned. It's up to you to prove people wrong and I really enjoy that.

A lot of skaters hole themselves up in hotels and focus - and that's great, and that may work for them. But for me, having the Olympic experience was as great as winning the medal. I have so many memories of living in the village and meeting other athletes, seeing other sports, and feeling the energy. It's so magical.

I went through my entire athletic life as a basketball player with only minimal physical setbacks, the worst being a couple of brain concussions, one in a college game in 1948, the other in 1954 while playing in the Eastern League, from which I recovered without permanent damage.

I rarely felt or noticed any real divide between girls and boys when I was growing up. Maybe it was because I was so involved in sports and competed with the boys. Maybe it was my mom and dad, who constantly instilled confidence in me and never made me feel as though there were boy activities and girl activities.