Ian Thorpe Quotes

I want to continue the sport of swimming. I'm not going to give up until I think it's reached where I want it to go.

I don't do athletics for any other reason than achieving certain distances, certain titles and goals in my head.

The preparation, commitment and desire to win will be no less than the last time I drove a grand prix car in anger.

When I feel like my body is exhausted, I focus on making my fifth Olympic team so I can push through it.

I think for me I've always loved being in the water and I love training and I love being at the pool so you know it's not a chore for me to go training, but come race day I would never just train to train - I train to race.

I decided to do the maximum to hold onto the lead for as long as possible. That is why I pushed so hard from the beginning. I was at 100 percent concentration.

To win you've got to stay in the game.

What kept me going through all the years? More than anything, the love of and respect for competition. That's what it comes down to for me. That's why I do this.

I had always dreamed of being an Olympian, and something clicked inside of me. I knew I had to move to Salt Lake City and make this dream a reality.

I thought I could, and thought I would, swim a lot quicker - much quicker.

Obviously, the competitor in you, you want to be in the top three every time in the pool.

Back in my mind, I never, ever wanted to give up swimming; it was something that I would carry on with.

I go out there and train as hard as anybody else.

I knew what my times were and how my practices were progressing and how close I was to the goals I had set for the year. I swam hard. I always swam hard. If I didn't, I knew I would pay for it either the next day or the next meet.

Desire is the most important factor in the success of any athlete.

Being a competitor, you always believe you can come back. I'll be up at 3 in the morning watching World Cup races in my hotel whether I'm in Asia on a business trip or in New York City and have to get up in 2 hours.

I have no intention of lingering through a season, just to have a chance to be an alternate on a relay. I don't want that.

I don't know whether it's the athlete in me or the passion I have for the game: I always think that I can step back on the field and play.

Every year it's a decision whether you're going to run again.

Sometimes I want to be a normal kid and go to the beach, but it's so motivating to think about going to the Olympics again. I'll only be 22 years old after Rio, and I can do whatever I want.

I decided that if I was going to continue in track, that I didn't want to lose, that I wasn't going to lose.

I am just going to try to run my personal best. If it comes as a world record, I would appreciate it. But I would treat it as a personal best.

I can't imagine what I would be doing if I wasn't swimming. It is what I want to do now; it is what I want to do in the foreseeable future, and that is what I'm focusing on.

I started Little Athletics when I was five years old, but my Olympics dream started when I was 10 years old.

Mum tries to make every race that she can.