Olympic Pressure Quotes

When I was 16, coming up through now at 24, it was so much I thought I had to change about myself. Especially after I won the Olympics.

I'm going into my first Olympics, whereas people I'm racing against are going into their third and fourth and probably last Olympics. So there's more pressure on them to perform. I've still got a whole future ahead of me. I am not even the Olympic champ.

Because winning a gold medal had been a dream of mine since a young age, I needed to empty my mind during the preparation for the Olympics by telling myself that it would be OK not to win a gold medal.

I have learned from the first Olympics, of course. When I went to my first Olympic Games, I experienced all of the pressure and was able to win the gold medal. I try not to feel the pressure, and I try not to be nervous when I am on the ice and when I compete.

I have learned from the first Olympics, of course. When I went to my first Olympic Games, I experienced all of the pressure and was able to win the gold medal. I try not to feel the pressure, and I try not to be nervous when I am on the ice and when I compete.

Everyone saying, 'She'll bring back women's skating. This will be the one to watch at the Olympics.' And they say things that are so far away, but really, you have to bring it back in and look at the next competition, the next day, what you want to accomplish because if you get too far ahead of yourself, you can trip yourself up.

When you are at the Olympic Games, it comes down to a ten thousandth of a hair between making the next round or winning a race or getting second or third.

You feel the Olympics and you get chills and nervous and a little scared. You go through the emotional roller coaster at what it's like to compete at the Olympic level and you let that run through your whole body.

When I was trying out for my first Olympics at 16, my family and coaches tried to regulate what I ate. But the stricter they got, the more I rebelled.

To be honest, after you've crossed the line at the Olympic Games, it is bedlam for the next, about, five or six hours. Media, press conference, dope control - you might get some food if you're lucky. You might see family if you're lucky.

Once, every four years, you get an opportunity to compete in the Olympics. You have these six dives that decide whether you're an Olympic medallist or not, which is quite intense.

You have 15-20 years of work for that one throw, that one moment. And I was like, 'Okay, Lord, this is it - you told me I had the victory. So this is the time to show me'. And I'm going to give it all I have because this is my last throw in the Olympics.

The Olympics are just different. I'm not sure why; the pipe's the same size, the board you're riding is the same, you're competing against pretty much the same people. But the Olympics is the Olympics, and I know it's a really big deal.

Basically, I was a little bit nervous before competing beam at the Olympics, and I had this nervous thing to just talk to myself, like 'You can do it, you can do it.' And right before I hopped up there, I said, 'I got this.'

During my first Olympics in 1980, at the age of 23, I was physically in great condition but mentally too inexperienced to cope comfortably in the pressure cooker of an Olympic year.

We're in a pressure-filled sport for sure, but anything in an Olympic season is heightened, the highs are higher and the lows are lower, and everything just takes on grander proportions.

The first few years I was competing, I'd ride so well in practice, then choke and fall in competition. Now I take a deep breath and say, 'Look at me. I'm outside. I'm doing what I love.' Still, nothing's matched the pressure I felt standing at the top of the halfpipe for the first time at the Olympics.

You can freak when you are at the Olympic Games. There are millions of cameras. Everyone is watching every move. Some people will trip where they would never trip in a routine. It's the small thing that nerves really bring out in people.

Qualifying for the Olympics is probably harder than winning a medal at the Olympics.

I have prepared myself to be at my peak in London. But in the Olympics, there are so many factors. You need to stay alert all the time, and a lapse of concentration, even for a second, will let you down.

I am not trying my best because it is the Olympics. I try my best always.

Seriously, the Olympic badminton players were apparently trying to lose on purpose, a big story. But really, think about it, if you train day and night for four years to be in the Olympics for badminton, in a way, haven't you already lost?

And then, looking back at my first Olympics, and when the pressure was on, in '94 and '98, and looking back and going, wow. I sensed and felt what Brian had gone through.

When you're on the Olympic team at 15, you don't do anything else. There's no normal social development, and your decisions are made for you.

People who aren't perhaps that into sport are going to be following me and wanting to be part of the Olympics. That definitely does bring added pressure but as an athlete the Olympics are the ultimate competition.