Athletic Opportunity Quotes

Every year, I think of Worlds as the big meet, but now, it's the Olympics. I'm blessed to even have the opportunity to think about it and work for it.

I was recruited by every school in the country for football and basketball. And an incident happened in high school, and all that was taken away. No other teams, no other schools were recruiting me anymore.

I feel like I have this different opportunity that not a lot of athletes may have. It's the fact that I'm Korean-American, and the Olympics are going to be in Korea, but I'm also riding for the States. I feel like I got really lucky that it got all pieced together - my first Olympics, being in Korea where most of my family is.

I don't regret my choice to sign for Milan.

Coaching in college is not a right. It's a privilege.

Our quarterbacks were getting hurt; a couple got kicked out of school. The coach asked who wanted to try out for QB. I went and tried out, and from there on, I was a quarterback. I was ineligible in 10th grade until spring, so I did baseball. I started in left field and pitched.

I saw a chance to make the 1988 Olympic boxing team and forgot all about football.

I went to Howard University and majored in Film Production and minored in Acting. I turned down an opportunity to go pro in Track & Field to do this - I took a chance with this.

The opportunity to play in the Big Ten was one that I could not pass up.

In high school, I didn't get the chance to wrestle varsity until my senior year because I had an older brother who was better than me.

Playing golf led me to Georgetown. I played on the women's team there.

I was invited to play with the New York Knicks. I was never drafted, but I was invited to the rookie camp.

I had played in a tournament with the captain of the University of Minnesota's golf team, and he thought I was good. He called his coach, and the coach called me and recruited me. A five-minute phone call changed my life.

Where I came from, sports were the only way to get out front.

It was kind of like an agreement, I guess you can say. It was like, 'Hey, bro, you want to be on Team USA?' And I was like, 'Yeah.' Who would say no to that? It was kind of like, 'Dang, I really get to play for my country. I get to represent and just go out there and have fun.'

In 2008 I didn't take it all in enough. I was so wrapped up in just the competition that I missed what was going on around me. If I am given that opportunity again to go to the Olympics and be an athlete I want to take it all in because I feel like this is my last shot and I want to feel the team spirit. I want to really live and breathe the USA.

I had a great time in the NFL. To make it in the amount of time that I did was awesome; it's a dream come true, and hell, it gave me the opportunity to go wrestle.

I have taken a leap forward at United which has allowed me to get into the national side.

I've decided to become a member of the Houston Rockets. I feel it's the best place for me and I am excited about joining the Rockets and I'm looking forward to a great season. I want to thank the fans in Los Angeles and wish them the best.

I'll never take for granted the opportunity to put on a Dodger uniform.

Both Atletico and Real Madrid called my dad, but at that time, I wasn't doing too well at school, and they wouldn't let me go until my grades improved. They both called back, and since Atleti was closer to home, I joined their football academy. It was the start of a period where I stopped enjoying football - I lost the love for it.

Going to college offered me the chance to play football for four more years.

It's hard to pass up a pole vault opportunity here in Des Moines. The crowd was so great when I was at the mall and I was pumped up and I thought technically I was on and I figured where else to open up my outdoor season than here.

In 1981, I spoke at the Olympic Congress. I was scandalised that I was the first athlete to be given that chance. But I made the most of it.

Monmouth was important to me because that was the first stepping stone. I am very grateful to the Monmouth program for taking a chance on a four-year lacrosse player who had a year of eligibility left. It was an awesome experience to go back there and play football again, especially since it was close to home.