WEBVTT

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I came today as an Olympian
and an adoptee.

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I came today as someone who left an image
in my sport, figure skating,

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and who left an impact in sports.

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The day I was born, my life was different,

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not typical.

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After couple days after my birth,

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my biological mum
decided to give me up for adoption

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in the South of France, in hospital.

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I had couple months where I was alone,

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and suddenly, a French white couple
decided to adopt me

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and change my life forever

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and take me home.

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My life was altered 
and beautiful ever since.

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My parents were just regular people

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who gave me everything,

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gave me opportunity
to be a happy and healthy child,

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and was surrounded by lots of love.

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I can say that I was
very lucky being adopted.

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It was like winning lottery.

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I've been participating
at three Winter Olympic Games.

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My first one was in 1992
in Albertville, in my home country.

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I was asked by the Olympic Committee
to give the Olympics off

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on behalf of the athletes.

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Second was in 1994 in Lillehammer.

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And my third and last Olympics
was in 1998 in Nagano, Japan.

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That was my last competition
as an amateur.

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And somehow, I decided
to do the best element that I had -

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was actually the backflip,
landing on one foot.

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That was never performed,
ever in competition.

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Yup, that was wild.

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As a pioneer in sports,

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I wanted to be the first-ever skater

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to do a backflip on Olympic ice.

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I had the opportunity and chance

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to have an amazing career.

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I had chance to do lot of sports
when I was young,

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encouraged by my mother as a sport coach.

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I was somehow good at everything I tried.

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I did diving, fencing, horse-riding,

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many sports except
catching a ball - no good at all.

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My mum, one day, drove me
to a scary gymnastics centre.

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And somehow, being so tiny at my age
was actually an advantage

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and became one of my best choices.

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I even became world champion
in tumbling at 12.

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And gymnastics brought me the skill
that I would use later on in my career

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to attempt wonderful tricks
like backflips or quadruple jumps.

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I was actually the first female
ever to attempt a quadruple in skating

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in the whole world.

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I remember when I was nine years old,

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one of my skating coaches told me
that I couldn't do a double jump.

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Didn't even allow me to even try it.

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So, my mum and I decided
to go to another skating rink

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and practice over and over
that forbidden jump.

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And guess what?

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I finally learned it.

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So, for me and my mum,
it was actually a triumph.

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That day, I was so full
of joy and so happy.

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But the next day, my coach saw that jump.

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Unfortunately, he was mad at me

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because I was disobeying him.

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And I was too young,
and I was improving too fast.

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So, I was kind of just mixing and changing
the whole skating world back then.

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Back in the days,
my mum became more attentive,

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tried to spend time
watching me at practice.

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Even though she even tried to hide herself
behind flower or tree pots,

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but she would always be here
to watch me practice.

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And eventually, she became
my full-time skating coach

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even though I did have amazing
and world-renowned coaches.

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My life was for sure different,

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but I had wonderful experience.

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I was so excited
to participate in the Olympics

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and be able to have this experience

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of being in the middle of those countries.

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As champions,

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we are so lucky to be
and participate in Olympic Games -

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knowing that there is more
than 200 countries meeting together -

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and spend two weeks
during those Olympics together

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living under one roof
and following those rules:

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respect, sportsmanship,

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competition, and peace.

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And those rules are so important.

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I think that ...

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competing all over the world 
gave me such experience.

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I had the chance to travel
all over the world,

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competing, performing.

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I even had the experience and the chance

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to go to North Korea three times.

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Yeah, like you can imagine,
North Korea looks sometimes strange,

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but I did perform there.

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And I had the chance to perform
and be respected

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like in any other places
that I would perform.

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North Korean people
were a little reserved,

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but somehow, they
were so respectful to us,

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to my teammates.

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And whether I was black,
I came as a French with American address,

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somehow, they liked me

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and respected me like all my other peers.

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I think sports have the capacity
to break barriers.

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And that's wonderful.

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Often, sports work
better than governments.

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Sports have the capacity to bring people,

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unite with happiness, love
all over the world.

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And I am so lucky to be an athlete

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who had the chance to perform
in front everyone.

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I would say that I was lucky
to have parents who helped me,

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parents who gave me a good education.

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They continually gave me
the sense of keeping my skills,

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to try to speak up, to be a better person.

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And as an athlete,

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it's important to be able to show
what you want to do,

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to show to the world that you have power.

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And I can say that I am
very thankful to my parents

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to give me that strength and that courage.

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You probably wonder,
How did I come that far?

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You probably think that it came easy.

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No.

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Every day I practised, every year,
for 7, 10 hours a day.

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But somehow, the strength, the love,
and the power of my sport

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made me become who I am today.

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And I am just blessed

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to be here in front of you today

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as an ambassador for peace.

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And I'm here,

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and I hope that my skating life impacted
a lot of people who did watch me

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and will probably inspire
many lives in the future.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)