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"  Ice dancers (and Olympic silver medalists!) Meryl Davis, 25 and Charlie White, 25 started skating together when they were only nine years old-and have been partners now for 16 years! But it wasn&amp;#039;t easy for the Michigan-based pair to grow up in a sport that puts so much of an emphasis on how the competitors look. &amp;quot;It was mentally hard to deal with,&amp;quot; said White. &amp;quot;Ice dancers historically have been very tall and beautiful people, and when we were teenagers, we were really short and going through an awkward phase.&amp;quot; Instead of getting down on themselves for being short, though, they used it to their advantage and learned lifts that taller skaters couldn&amp;#039;t do. &amp;quot;You don&amp;#039;t have to fit that perfect mold in order to become a champion,&amp;quot; White said. Their advice for reaching your goals: Embrace who you are and be the best you can be, instead of trying to emulate someone else. Be sure to check out Meryl Davis and Charlie White as they shoot for gold at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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