What was most important to me at the Olympics was going out there and performing my best. When I messed up the first jump combination, which was my big move, it hit me that I messed up the program of my life.
What really makes baseball so hard is it's retributive capacity for disaster if the smallest thing is done wrong, and the invisible presence of defeat that attends every game.
My mistake was in ever opening the books.
If every soldier is authorized to make one mistake, then we lose the war.
As soon as you make a mistake, you're killed by the press.
Everything I say, you know, goes into print. If I make a mistake, it doesn't merely affect me or you, but the country.
With this mistake I deprived myself of the possibility to make a contribution to the treasury of chess art.
You can make loads of great saves, but if you concede, it's, 'That's what we will show the world.'
In tennis, you can have a bad set and still win. The part of track cycling that is difficult to find in other sports is that it's so final; there's no second chance if you make a mistake.
Every time I fumble or drop a ball I am embarrassed.
