Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I made my first Australian senior team when I was 16, first Olympics when I was 19, and I retired. I'm 32, I retired four years ago, so a good third of my life or nearly a third of my life has been all about running.
What used to drive me was the fact that I wanted to be better than everybody at something. One of my best qualities is that I used whatever other people found to be an adverse thing to be a positive thing for myself.
The irony of that is, what makes it kind of ironic, is when you do become successful as a professional athlete in particular, a lot of the young children who are emulating these stars do have a different perspective.
You feel like a criminal. Knowing you can knock somebody out and know you can put somebody in a temporary coma, that's what you want to go for. It shows how strong, how powerful a person can be to be able to do that.
I loved throwing a baseball. It is so important to find something in life you feel crazy about. Because you are so passionate you naturally practice. The hard work that it takes to do something well will come easily.
Muhammad Ali, the Jim Browns, the Bill Russells, Kareem [Abdul Jabbar ], these individuals supported us, but yet still, when you sit back and say the coverage that was done relative to their support was very shallow.
I would love to end my European campaign with the World Championship stripes on my back. But everything else that I have in my mind right now is to continue working with and having my little camps for women cyclists.
As some species of plants need to be burned to the ground in order for them to later flourish, I needed to have my ass handed to be in order to get it into gear for the upcoming Sydney Olmpics. Now, I'm on a mission.
Confident is believing in yourself. Being humble is, even though you believe in yourself and you know what you're capable of, you still work 10 times harder than your opponent to make sure you get the output you want.
I was a pallbearer. I felt, when I got the call that Peter had died, I didn't have any bank account, but I felt I needed to start walking then because there was no way in the world I would miss Peter Norman's service.
Grind it out. Hanging on just one second longer than your competition makes you the winner. If you can't win, make the fellow ahead of you break the record. The mile has a classic symmetry....It's a play in four acts.
To this day I don't ever remember seeing a pet inside Moscow, I never saw anyone carrying a dog, or leading a dog. Err I finally saw a, a pet some years later in Kiev, so I thought that life must have been, different.
Both my parents were amateur badminton players. My father is a scientist and wanted me to be a doctor. But my mom was very aggressive and loved badminton. She pushed me right from the age of nine to take up the sport.
When I played football, I liked being a goalkeeper or a midfielder. I was probably better at cricket. I would be a very good cricketer if I was a professional now. I think I would probably have been the best, in fact.
The three-peat has never been attempted, ever, and for me, I think it will add to my legendary status. I want to become one of the greatest athletes ever to have competed in any sport, so for me, that's what it means.
My main point in this regard was to compete for my country and my people and to receive the support of the entire Cuban society, to carry my flag in whatever competition I was in, the Olympic Games, Pan-American Games.
When the time comes for your brain to process the information, the second word comes up faster than the first one. So when it's in your head, all of a sudden, it comes out backwards and you think of the word backwards.
By deciding to succeed and actually trying to make your dreams come true, you are already successful. Your effort and continued dedication distinguish you from those who don't have the courage or stamina to really try.
Many people know that Ethiopia is poor. When I break a world record, maybe people get to know something else about Ethiopia, something good. We can't make planes or cars, we don't have the materials. We do what we can.
Eradicate poverty. This is all that matters in my country. When I am out training I think about this a lot; when I am running it is going over in my mind. As a country we cannot move forward until we eradicate poverty.
I remember reading the book 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad,' and I remember writing my goals down, and my number one goal in life was just to be a good husband and a good father someday. That was number one, as a 17-year-old kid.
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.
I believe that it is better to learn from the diverse people around us than to try in vain to emulate them, better to be a teacher than a role model. As strong as my legs are, it is my mind that has made me a champion.
You can't really ever know what someone is like or what they're thinking. There are people who say they're feminists but who say really anti-feminist things, [and] other people who think they're one way but act another.
I ran my first race the end of March, 1976. And less than four months later I was Olympic champion. But I had the background. It's not like I just ran one day and all of a sudden became a champion. It was a lot of work.
This hand is not very active always, because it was in this hand that I carried my books. My carrying hand was always my strongest. Now I think my other hand has developed more muscles from signing all those autographs.
Even though I'm not a competitive athlete, I have to still maintain things and try to keep myself fit because I am at that age where I need to make sure to get those regular checkups and make sure everything is in tact.
In Romania, I train on a bar that is bent. My gym has bad lighting and very little heat in the winters. Here in America, you have everything you need to train. It's not in the bar or the gym or the platform it's in you.
Even though I enjoy that head-to-head competition part, one of the things that drove me to long track was if I won or if I lost I want to know it's all on my shoulders and it didn't have anything to do with anybody else.
People are always asking me for pictures, signing autographs, everywhere I go. Before, it used to irritate me, but I've learned to handle the situation. I cannot run away unless I lock myself in my room and never go out.
I am not a fake. I am natural. I am just being Caster. I don't want to be someone I don't want to be. I don't want to be someone people want me to be. I just want to be me. I was born like this. I don't want any changes.
People see me now and ask if I'm still running. I may look like I am, but I'm really not. People think I still run every day but I ran for 25 years and I deserve to not do anything but walk or ride the bike with my kids.
I am 54 years old and happily single. In addition to my nuclear family, I have a close circle of friends. Most of my friends are men. But my reputation is such that their female partners would never consider me a threat.
In wrestling, you're talking about a fraternity of champions, and I got a chance to be a part of that Olympic championship club. And anyone that ever won the Olympics in wrestling, there's something different about them.
We wanted to bring attention to the fact that we had so many deals taking place that we could have made change for the better for all people, and we felt that we would be a catalyst to bring this to attention to society.
I love short track. I competed in short track, I was a world champion in 1986 but at that point in time it wasn't in the Olympic Games so I moved into long track. Short track is a blast to skate and it's a blast to watch.
Fighting in Flint in front of all my fans has been a dream of mine since turning pro. Having the opportunity to make history by fighting for the undisputed title in a second weight division is something I'm very proud of.
You can accomplish anything that you dedicate yourself to. Think how many people struggle across the world, across the country. I know anything is possible if you set your mind, your body, your soul, and your faith to it.
We go out and work hard. We play this game with emotion and love. Coach always says 'Emotionally, physically, mentally - come to the field prepared.' Because if you don't bring that to the field, you're going to get beat.
Life wasn't good, but I could not walk away from something I love. I had a difficult life to face, but I had to try to keep dealing with the situation with the help of my family, friends, and training partners and manager.
Kids are starting at such a low base rate in terms of fitness that it's taking them years to catch up to where people like me started from. Every little bit is making it more difficult for kids to succeed on a world stage.
We crave instant success these days. If you are a really good sprinter and long jumper, you don't want to spend two or three years on a whole new set of events. You're used to doing well and it's difficult to give that up.
I'm lucky. The best possible place in the world for training is Addis Ababa, so I am home all the time except when I am racing. I like to be there, near my family, my kids, also the real estate business I run with my wife.
The secret is, first, get a thoroughbred horse because they are the most nervous animals on earth. Then get the biggest gun you can find and make sure the starter fires that big gun right by the nervous thoroughbred's ear.
In the history of each sport, the heroes who win the Olympic gold medal are the ones we remember. Nobody remembers the World Champion 25 years ago, but everyone remembers who the Olympic Champions were, even 100 years ago.
I think I was more or less, convinced of that by just the press, the US press. By people who were pressuring you, saying that you gotta beat the Russian's, if you don't win anything else, win the Russian meet and so forth.
I actually had nuggets and mostly Asian food when I was at the Olympics. But as soon as I got back to Jamaica, or when I was in London, I had a lot of wings. That was the first thing I asked for - "Hey, get me some wings."
It is one of the strange ironies of this strange life that those who work the hardest, who subject themselves to the strictest discipline, who give up certain pleasurable things in order to achieve a goal, are the happiest.
Being overseas at the time it all kind of happened was perfect because I had no idea that it was going to attract so much media attention and provoke these lovely people calling in and offering up their opinions and advice.
I feel like I've reached an age where I can relax a little bit with the knowledge of what I've been through, take all that experience and use it. I love the challenge of trying to get back to where I've been, and beyond it.