Gail Devers

In February 1991, I was rushed to the hospital in Los Angeles to have my feet amputated. Three years earlier, I had broken the national 100 meters hurdles record while a student at UCLA and was a favourite for the event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Looking back, I'm so proud to have gone to five Olympics — I believe only three other Americans have achieved that. My true gold medal, though, is my daughter, Karsen, who is 18 months old. And I have a wonderful husband, Mike.

I have to be cautious, have my thyroid levels checked, and as long as I do that, I'm fine.

Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.

Sometimes we fall, sometimes we stumble, but we can't stay down. We can't allow life to beat us down. Everything happens for a reason, and it builds character in us, and it tells us what we are about and how strong we really are when we didn't think we could be that strong.

It's not what other people believe you can do; it's what you believe you can do.

When I write a goal down — and I truly write them down — it becomes a part of me. That's a contract that I sign with myself to say, 'I don't care what happens — I'm going to stay on this path. I'm going to try and see this through; I'm going to give it my best shot, my best effort'.

In my race, there's 10 hurdles, but in life, there is always a hurdle. There is always something you gotta get over, and it's what you do, you know.

A lot of times when I ran, to be honest, I didn't know where I was in the race. So I always was looking up at the scoreboard to say, 'Just call my name to see where I am', because I tried to have such tunnel vision not to distract myself.

People see me now and ask if I'm still running. I may look like I am, but I'm really not. People think I still run every day but I ran for 25 years and I deserve to not do anything but walk or ride the bike with my kids.