Contests were so pertinent that you had to think that way but today, it's not like that. You have your contest skaters, you have your video skaters, you have your skaters who don't like either of them, but they all are sponsored and get paid.
The popularity of figure skating has increased tremendously, and Koreans have a huge interest in figure skaters - not only me, other international skaters as well.
The only reason skaters hang around this guy is because he's Lil Wayne, but they don't like him. I've talked to skaters; nobody likes Wayne as a skateboarder.
Obviously, the skaters in generations before us didn't have the opportunity to win multiple medals at an Olympic Games. We recognize that.
At most contests now, skaters are judged against themselves.
I can relate to anyone. I can hang out with stoners, skaters, surfers, stockbrokers, lawyers, athletes, rappers. I feel I can hang out with any group of people and find common ground to talk with them.
You see figure skaters fall all the time. It's the way you pick yourself back up and keep going.
We didn't call it a sport necessarily, and skaters definitely weren't thought of as athletes, we were thought of as misfits.
Skaters are infamously superstitious.
I have a very close friendship with the skaters.
I love teaching the younger skaters.
Skaters are very much like peacocks.
Figure skaters have awful perceptions of hockey players.
There would not be Skaters or Emeralds or any of these bands if it weren't for Double Leopards.
That's something I'm actually very interested in doing, helping young skaters.
I want to inspire the next generation of athletes, not just figure skaters.