Joanna Jedrzejczyk Quotes

We're focusing on producing top, great athletes for the Olympics.

An Olympic pursuit really takes a full three to four years of Olympic preparation.

I want to do what I can to give the next generation of athletes added advantages in the game.

I think in running, to be honest, that even though athletes are very dedicated and are willing to train and do whatever they need to do to prepare, more often than not they're not in a very professional environment where you've got a high performance director and a coach that are really monitoring your daily activities.

Colorado Springs is a very good place to train ahead of the Olympics. We get to compete with different partners, learn different movements, we also get to improve upon our speed, which is very essential.

I decided to work really hard in 1987. I hired Matt Doyle, a former pro player, and he helped me with my physical training. Lendl was the first to focus on that. He used to be weak, physically and mentally.

Nowadays, we have to deal with so many more factors that weren't there in the past. It's not enough to be a good rider, if you want to finish at the front. The riders have become incredible athletes. In the past, you could manage the race and fight only on the last laps. Now you need to train hard. You cannot allow yourself to go on track without being at 100 percent.

A gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics is what I'm looking for. I have to pace my training in such a way that I'm at my best in Rio, and when I'm in form, no opponent can come in my way.

There is one thing on which most athletes and experts seem to agree. If you want to be an elite athlete, good nutrition at a young age is an important place to start.

It's a real strength for me that I've never minded the training process. It's something I enjoy. I really like being in the gym or, certainly, on the field.

I don't feel like anybody can be in top-notch football shape when you first get out there, and that's what training camp is for, and that's why it's a long process.

You can't go to college and develop into an Olympics champion. It takes too much time, too much training.

To be able to perform at a high level, to be able to do things that no other fighter can do, you have to practice it. And the only way you can practice is by sparring, by fighting another man.

That's what I want to do, to go out and perform back to the levels I know I'm capable of, the levels you can produce with consistent games and to win football matches.

From a logistical standpoint, I learned about when to peak, when to push, when to recover throughout the season.

I think that for my sport, the core is the most important. I mean, really in all sports, but especially in the sport I play, I keep my core right and try and keep that up no matter what I'm doing.

All good players have to do that, to learn how to get better throughout the season. Just really work on my body. Just try to stay healthy and be stronger. Just try to get bigger.

Having my dad play for the Falcons, what it did was really to expose me to a whole bunch of other elite-level athletes, which I think gives me an advantage and allowed me to understand what goes into sports. It is more than going out onto the field and going out onto the ice and competing.

I wanted to be a pro athlete. I knew that.

Would I still be playing at the top level at the age of 37 years if I had any weaknesses?

The longer you stay out of this sport, the less sharp you are, and I've been aware of that; that's why I've stayed and haven't wanted to retire and come back - because you skip a beat.

My mother always made me do ball-handling and all that because she was like, 'What if you stop growing?'

My last year of football I started having a couple of MMA fights, and bringing the weight down. It started in the pre-season of football, just to keep fit, and I did really well.

And since my father started training me, he always explained to me how important footwork is and how strong your legs have to be.

Everything we did on the training pitch, we did with the ball. You'll never see a pianist run around his piano. People ask me, 'Why don't you run through the forest, through the trees?' Well, I've never seen a tree on a football field.