Athletic Success Quotes

Experiencing pain in your muscles and aching, that's what makes the muscle grow. and that divides one from being a champion and one from not being a champion. If you can go through this pain barrier, you may get to be a champion. If You can't go through it, forget it.

When I'm relaxed, I play my best tennis.

When you win an Olympic gold, it is such a powerful feeling that stays with you for the rest of your life.

My overwhelming concern will always be the well-being of the athletes. In Olympic sport, it is rare for competitors not to devote half their young life to this. Their families will have given up all sorts of things to allow them to do that.

What it is saying is that someone who was a world champion and who takes care of himself with a 17-year rest and applies the proper training techniques and perseverance could be successful.

I don't really care how many yards I throw for; as long as we score more points than the guys we're playing.

My life has been a whirlwind since the '94 Olympics.

I had my time in the England shirt and won a lot of caps.

I wanted to go somewhere and make a name for myself. I wanted to go somewhere and establish a winning culture because everybody knows about the football team. So I wanted to change the culture and make it both basketball as well as football and just give the fans what they want in Tuscaloosa.

I didn't make the Pro Bowl until my seventh year I think in the NFL. We continually got better.

The thing is, once you're in the Super Bowl, you want to win. As time goes on, you want to win more and more.

When I made it to the pros I wanted to be a guy who could stay in the league, be OK, do whatever I had to do to make some money and do what I do. As the years started coming, I started getting better.

Our coach was absolutely out of his head. He must have read Bear Bryant's book. We had 78 players out. The first day 35 quit. Twenty quit the second day. We ended with 17 players. It was depressing.

I think there's a lot of different ways to win. You've seen teams that win championships with a super-duper star like Kobe Bryant. Those championship teams with Michael Jordan certainly had a great, great player.

When I play my hardest, I feel like I'm one of the best on the floor.

If you can come to the Olympic Games and leave with a medal then that is alright.

I remember seeing the Olympics when I was 13. I always wanted to know how it felt to stand on top of the podium hearing your country's anthem while watching your flag being raised in something you poured your heart and soul into.

If anyone wants to know why three kids in one family made it to the big leagues they just had to know how we helped each other and how much we practiced back then. We did it every minute we could.

In the NHL, 95 percent of success is confidence.

If a footballer goes on the pitch with the right mentality, he will perform well.

My goal had been to win a championship, work toward the Hall of Fame, have my jersey retired by the team and I'd go in as a lifelong New York Giant, but I'm now resigned to the fact that this won't happen.

I don't know how you keep the world record holder off your team.

You can only do so much in the gym or pool. Seventy per cent of it is physical, but the final 30 per cent is down to the mental capacity to actually control what you can do in competition.

I encourage all players to work to be their best, which includes looking for opportunities beyond the playing field.

My father's encouragement is what has brought me this far, because when I grew up I wanted to be like him, and I knew I had that ability to become an athlete. Being an Olympian is one of the greatest things, and being an Olympic gold medallist is one of the most prestigious titles in the world.