By Chad Finn, Boston.com Staff

LONDON -- Judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison of Marblehead was one of four athletes who spoke at a United States Olympic Committee press conference this morning to discuss the state of the Games so far. Here are her thoughts:

On the Closing Ceremony Sunday night:

Harrison: "My roommate and I have been practicing the Spice Girls, so we're ready."

On the fascination of looks in media coverage of female athletes:

Harrison:"I think our society puts into women and how they look and what they wear or how they dress and I think that being a strong female competitor is the best thing we can do to fight that. It doesn't matter how we look, we just won the gold medal. It doesn't matter what we wear, we're part of Team USA and there's no better colour than the American flag."

On whether winning is the most important thing at the Olympic Games:

Harrison: "The Olympic motto is faster, higher, stronger and I think every American came here to do that. I came here to perform at my very, very best and make America proud as a result."

On the success of women on Team USA, who have compiled more medals than their male counterparts:

Harrison: "I've been thrilled to see how well US women have done. It feels amazing to be apart of something so much bigger than myself, I definitely feel connected. To be able to say, 'I'm a strong confident young woman and an Olympic champion is amazing and I hope we have a million young girls inspired right now."