Ralph Boston Quotes

I was fortunate enough to coach the U.S. Olympic team in Australia.

I was never invited to the White House. They invited that Olympic Russian gymnast - that little Communist, Olga Korbut.

Nellie Kim, an Olympic champion from the former Soviet Union, got a 10 right after me in '76, but nobody talks about that.

To play in the Olympics, to play for your country, there's nothing like it. You love doing it and I'm looking forward to it again. We're all looking forward to trying to win another gold.

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 you're expected to win and you have the press saying that you are going to win the Olympic gold medal, and you're the only sure thing in the Olympics, it can undermine your confidence.

It's never easy at the Olympic level. Russia, Romania and China always are contenders.

People ask if I regret not winning a Stanley Cup, but winning the series against the Soviet Union was the best. It was the greatest experience of my hockey career by far.

Many people talk about winning two straight gold medals, but I'm not focusing on defending the title.

Then I received support from the Government to compete for my country, and to represent Cuba in competition.

My father represented India at the Olympics, and I also want to do that.

I'm proud to be part of any Olympic team.

I know it won't be eight medals again. If you want to compare me to that, that's your decision, not mine. I'm going out there to try to accomplish the things that I have in my mind and in my heart.

If you don't try to win you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody's back yard.

The Olympics were the most pressure I've ever felt.

I love the Olympics. Something about the Olympics just makes everything competitive.

One of my goals is to play the Olympics in 2016. If you're able to represent your country in the Olympics everyone will understand you as a player and not many people do get to go to the Olympics.

As it happens, I have personally been something of an enthusiast for the London Olympic games, mainly on the grounds a) that a bit of wasteland will be made nice and b) that it tends to make everybody happy that their country should be the centre of world attention for a couple of weeks in their life.

I'm so over the moon that I have the opportunity to represent my country at a third Olympic Games.

Sports is an imitation of war - it is peaceful, without arms, but there is fierce rivalry in it. Sports demonstrate that Russia is a great power.

What matters to the press matters perforce to politicians.

If the press knows about a problem, big or small, that problem is far more likely to receive the personal attention of senior policy makers, then if it remains a well-kept secret.

The opportunity to represent your country at the Olympic Games is earned, not given.

I saw what politics did to the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and I would defend the right of a sportsman to go and play and perform where they want.

Our sport probably has the best history and tradition of being engaged in international competition.