LINFORD CHRISTIE

I have got better things to do in working with my athletes who I feel are going to be involved in 2012.

If you criticise something then you have to have an alternative, but we do have to try and improve things.

Obviously I was disappointed when it fell into disuse, because it was my own track named after me, but I am sure all those youngsters we lost will be coming back, and I certainly intend to be down here as much as I can, coaching and advising.

My first love is the sport, and it will always be my priority.

We have got to go out there and deliver, go on the streets and find athletes, improve facilities around the country and find coaches. We have got to go out there and search for a star.

I think the athletes respond well to me because I have been successful.

There was no money in the sport but we'd be out there day in, day out, rain or shine, doing it.

I am a coach on the outside of the establishment and that works.

I coach a few guys and they work very, very hard, but in our day we did it because we just loved it.

I know what it takes to get to the top.

But I sometimes think we have too much of a fixation about 2012.

I think it's great that they are getting funding, but it's just too easy. They don't have to work for it. We did it because we had pride, because we loved it.

I don't think there are really enough meetings in Britain for our athletes to compete properly, and because of this a lot of the talent we have has been stunted.

Some of today's athletes do not have that kind of pride. They left school at 16, have never had a job in their life and are getting Lottery funding, earning money as an athlete.

Adopting a new healthier lifestyle can involve changing diet to include more fresh fruit and vegetables as well as increasing levels of exercise.

It should be your parents and others in the community that you look up to. For me it was my grandmother, a great woman. She had wisdom and knowledge.

I'm good in the garden and I can do the cooking, ironing and cleaning, but I can't hang wallpaper or paint.

I'm a very opinionated person and when I feel something I have to say it.

As athletes, when you find something that gets to someone you have to press their buttons.

Regardless of what I've ever done or will ever do, I'll always be black.

I think the Jamaicans are among the most talented people on the planet; it's just that through circumstances, through poverty, they rarely get the chance to bring those talents to the fore.

When I was young you raced from one end of the street to the other, or round the block.

I've done my country proud.

People live, people die. It's always hard when it's a member of your family.

When I was competing, I trained between three and six hours a day, seven days a week.