Part of what Special Olympics is trying to do is break down stereotypes that still exist for people. There is still a lot of fear.

Olympic Gold changed me and my life dramatically. I became a celebrity overnight and people see me as a famous skater not a real person.

I don't believe in the so-called Olympic spirit. I speak from personal experience. When China hosted the Games it failed to include the people. The event was constructed without regard for their joy.

The Olympics is about letting people believe in their own dreams.

I'm not supposed to be able to speak clearly and decipher what's going on in the media. I'm supposed to be the typical amateur who's 22 and scared to death and can't believe he won the Olympics.

Obviously losing a parent is very difficult. I miss my dad every day but I know he would be proud to see me continuing to swim and going for another shot at the Olympics.

My senior year of high school when I was getting recruited for college my dad goes to me 'You can become an Olympic champion.' And that's the first time that I'd heard someone else say that to me. I was like 'Uh are you talking to me?'

The 'Bird's Nest' National Stadium which I helped to conceive is designed to embody the Olympic spirit of 'fair competition.' It tells people that freedom is possible but needs fairness courage and strength.

A couple days ago I saw a lot of people tweeting 'Oh it's so cool 'Home' is being used in the Olympics!' We don't really get to watch much TV man with the concerts every night but I wish I could have seen it. I really just found out through Twitter and my management texting me. I thought it was really awesome.

I think sometimes I guess you see records say you want to get there and use that as motivation. In a way it's kind of cool if there is a possibility to rewrite history and be up there with the greats of Olympic history.

Especially in the car ride to and from gym. I find myself spacing out a lot just visualizing what the Olympics would be like and just having such great role models.

Join me in Olympic Heros for Abstinence. The best sex is no sex.

I mean the beauty of being a writer is it's not like being a swimmer. When they were talking about our Olympic swimmers and they'd say 'Oh she's so old ' and she's all of 25 or something. So the beauty for a writer is that you can keep doing it right into your dotage and I hope to be able to keep doing it as long as I can get away with it yeah.

And currently there are four to five new works in the pipeline for upcoming celebrations such as the Sydney 2000 Olympics Australian Federation my 50th Birthday and Sydney Dance Company's 25th Anniversary.

It is pretty amazing. My parents who came from Nicaragua to the U.S. - who would have thought that they would have American kids on the Olympic team? I think that's the epitome of the Olympic dream.

I am also hugely excited to then be competing to defend my three Paralympic titles at the Paralympic Games. I believe we will see some amazing times posted and I am very much looking forward to what will be an incredible Olympics and Paralympics in London.

I'm still a Welsh girl at heart so I'm staying in the U.K. for the Olympics it's such an exciting time for Britain so it's amazing to be a part of it.