Laure Manaudou Quotes

I pretty much knew that I was going to come in fourth, but then I said, 'I'm fourth at the Olympic Games. What are you talking about? Why is that disappointing?'

I was always really inspired by watching the older girls competing, just seeing other Olympians do great things, and I just really wanted to be a part of that whole experience. And to be able to represent USA was always a goal of mine.

I have to motivate myself every season now to win things I've already won just to build my own legacy and try to end my career as high up as I possibly can.

It was a dream of mine to be an Olympic champion but not a lifelong goal.

In football, you are going to have highs and lows, and you have to recognize when you have new opportunities and walk in those.

Dedicating myself to actually following through was my single biggest achievement.

We must lift ourselves for every challenge we face, no matter who you are playing - and that applies especially to the national team.

I said back in 2010 when I was rubbish at the European championships, 'If I never win an omnium until 2012, I don't care.' I then won Olympic gold.

I'm a guy who is going to go out there and do his best, and I'm a guy who has always gone out there and proved people wrong.

I have to switch my own mentality into a winning mode, not playing for myself or trying to be selfish.

My 100th goal is good for me personally but above all, the team is very important.

There is something quintessentially American about the USWNT. Last-minute, dramatic finishes and technical finesse aside, the spirit of the program reflects a determination and perseverance that resonates with the deeply held belief that with hard work, anything is possible.

We were 6-4 and everybody doubted us. We lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and that week we had a players meeting and really talked about where we really want to go. It's not about the record. At the end of the day it comes down to are we going to keep focusing on each other and are we going to keep getting better day by day? We ignored the noise, we ignored all the talk from the outside.

If you play hockey, you might as well win.

I'd like to be a three-time Olympian.

Success comes in doing the hard work - not breaking each other down, but building each other up. I don't expect any less from myself.

You have to be able to shut out everything else, all the distractions and criticism. There's a lot of work that went on off the pitch, a lot of conversations, to make that happen.

When you're losing that tends to kind of build the character of everybody together.

Sometimes the storyline is as simple as, 'We're just going to be the best, and we're going for the championships.

You can have a bad day but that does not make you a bad team.

I don't worry about being the best keeper in the tournament. I just focus on being the best I possibly can for myself and for the team.

My philosophy is to be strong and work hard.

I love when people doubt me. I love when people don't think that I'm good enough to play at a certain level, not good enough to be a starter, things like that. That's the stuff that drives me.

I want to keep on improving as a player and become the best... one of the best midfielders in my position in the world.

There have been times in my football career where I've thought: 'Is this it? Is this as far as I'm going to go?'