Mike Schultz Quotes

I was a torch carrier in the 2012 Paralympics and every time I thought 'I can't do this' I would look at the blade runners and the athletes and wheelchairs think, okay, I can run.

While paralyzed, I won a gold and three silver medals as a competitive swimmer.

For most Olympic athletes, their training is their hardest challenge and where they push themselves to the limit. For Paralympians, training and competition is an escape from the hardships and struggles of their everyday life. That is the difference.

People used to call the Paralympics the 'Special Olympics.' These men and women are athletes. They are warriors. They are people who are not confined by what they have been given. It's amazing to see where, and how far, the human body can really go.

That's really what the Paralympics is about: these amazing athletes and this technology that's allowing them to reach their full potential.

To be able to wear your country's colors and compete in the Paralympics for the snowboard team... it's pretty powerful.

Having loved sport my whole life, competing in a Paralympics would be a dream come true.

I joke that the Olympics is the warm-up to the Paralympics.

Lance Armstrong is the guy that I would put up there as one of my heroes. He's done something that no one else has done and when you put into it what he overcame, it's absolutely unbelievable.

I always said, 'A blind dog with three legs could get a standing ovation for singing 'I'm Still Here!'

Coming in as a veteran, I'd like to finish with a gold medal.

The only thing I really, really want is for the U.S. to win again. Just to win another team gold. And, of course I would really want to win an all-around gold.

The Olympic Gold medal in 1968 was definitely the highest moment of my career. It was a dream come true. I was a 19-year-old boy, and it was just amazing to be standing on top of the podium and hearing the National Anthem in the background.

I'm officially disabled, but I'm truly enabled because of my lack of limbs. My unique challenges have opened up unique opportunities to reach so many in need.

I have always had a dream to take part in an Olympic Games, and losing my leg didn't change anything.

I ventured into fiction in 1988 with 'What Love Sees,' a biographical novel of a woman's unwavering determination to lead a full life despite blindness.

I am also hugely excited to then be competing to defend my three Paralympic titles at the Paralympic Games. I believe we will see some amazing times posted and I am very much looking forward to what will be an incredible Olympics and Paralympics in London.

The image of Stephen Hawking - who has died aged 76 - in his motorised wheelchair, with head contorted slightly to one side and hands crossed over to work the controls, caught the public imagination as a true symbol of the triumph of mind over matter.

You're always in a blessed position if you have a great success story, especially to be in a position to be able to tell it so people can even understand.

Winning the World Cup was very special because it meant so much to so many.

I was talking to a guy who was holding his 18-month-old daughter with the only limb he had left, and he had a smile on his face. I thought, 'I'm not even a 10th of this man.'

One day I heard Ray Charles on the radio and I found out he was blind. I thought, 'You know what, if there's room for Ray, there might be room for Jose.'

I have every reason, despite the resentment and exasperation, to be proud. I have nothing better to be proud of than being proud of German unity.

I shouldn't have been diagnosed as swiftly as I had been. I shouldn't have recovered as fully as I did. I shouldn't have been able to write a book that did as well as it did, and that book should never have been made into a movie. Yet, here I am.

Winning HOYS set me up for the future and prepared me for riding in front of lots of people, but the real highlight was the London 2012 Olympics. Being able to go out in front of thousands of people, on your home ground, representing your country and winning gold medals is something I'll never be able to beat.