Quotes from Denise Lewis

I really wasn't well - feeling feverish then cold - so I went to the doctor to find out if I had flu and they did a blood test. I thought: 'Okay, this is it. I'm pre-menopausal.' Then Steve said: 'Are you sure you're not pregnant?'

I've always wanted to be an athlete, I loved sport and PE in school and always watched the Olympic Games on TV.

I fell in love with athletics watching the 1980 Moscow Olympics, aged seven. I thought: 'These people aren't human, they're immortal.'

Anybody who says the Olympics is just another race is not being honest.

As an only child you don't have many people to play with, and mum was strict about not mixing with kids on the street, so I played by myself.

Parents with a West Indian background tend to be more strict.

You can't complain about Sir Steve or Jill Halfpenny in 'Strictly Come Dancing.' But Michael Owen in 1998, that really does bother me.

Well, now I am retired I am doing a variety of different sports such as cycling and tennis, and I have pulled out my golf clubs and started golf as well.

During my career I had been training twice a day, every day, because it was all about me. That was the job. But with kids, my hours were vastly reduced.

Obviously it is well documented that I didn't love the 800m when I started out. But I, er, learnt to appreciate it.

I just hope, in terms of legacy, that more kids want to choose a life in sport that they are more active and getting stuck in really.

Dickie Davies was a legend. And he's a really nice man, too.

When I was an athlete I never listened to music because I was constantly so engaged with my own self and body.