I remember my first World Championships. I got zero turns, and I got turned multiple times, and I was still a World Champion.
You watch Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather fight, Floyd can just throw a few punches, or he can do a lot of defense; he can slip a few punches, let Conor get a few shots in. You can't really do that in wrestling without getting scored on or putting yourself at risk.
I didn't see my son walk for the first time. I've left my wife at home with two kids for long periods of time to go to training camps, to foreign countries.
My one and only focus at the Olympic Games is to win a gold medal.
A lot of guys get out of wrestling immediately after winning a gold medal. Every time another Olympics comes around, it's always a bunch of fresh faces. For me, to win an Olympic gold and have a chance to win another would be huge for our sport.
I wanted to be amongst the greats. I wanted to be a Simone Biles, a Michael Phelps, an Ashton Eaton. I wanted to be those guys.
The difference between the greats and the legends is their ability to focus for longer periods of time.
I love legends. I love reading up on the greats in their time period. I think, 'Man, what it would be like to live when they were competing and see them at their best!'
I've won every single event there is to win as a wrestler, and I still continue to come back every single year. The hard part for me is, 'OK, how long can you do this?'
Anything less than gold is a failure to me. It's extreme pressure, but I hold myself to a high standard.
Donald Trump and I have very different views on Iranians. I am confident that if he ever visited the country, he'd learn a lot about the people and come back to the States with a newfound appreciation for the Persians.
We have a lot of wrestling fans out there just looking for a star to cheer for.
There was a time period where I was obsessed with the rivalry between the Lakers and the Celtics in the 1980s.
I'm not going to sit on my laurels.
People need to feel like their heroes are human, not on the mat but in the world. The more people can see that, the more they can understand that they're capable of doing great things as well.
Within the realm of wrestling, it's been the same every year - just continually trying to improve and evolve as a wrestler, putting myself in a position to not maintain but maximize my potential.
I think my mental toughness, athleticism, and my physical prowess, I'd be successful if I decided to fight, no matter what.
I missed a lot of important milestones in my children's lives to pursue this sport.
I don't describe myself as a nationalist, but I do love my country.
Nebraska and Indiana were really the only Division One schools that expressed any interest in me.
