I need someone who is able to hold her own - if a girl is really independent, that's a turn-on for me.

I was a little troublemaker. Always trying to get in trouble, always mischief, like throwing rocks at cars when I was younger, all that kind of stuff.

Every year before a big competition, I get hurt doing stuff I should not be doing. One year it was my little brother's 12th birthday. We all played hide-and-seek late at night. I climbed up a 30-foot tree, thinking he'd never catch me. I tripped and fell on one of the branches and I hit my head.

It's so hard to express yourself, because swimmers are pretty much paying attention to a black line for hours out of a day.

I was a better basketball player growing up in high school than I was a swimmer. Basketball to this day is my favorite sport.