Quotes from Abhinav Bindra

Growing up, I was not athletic.

Right from my childhood I have been attracted by guns.

It has been a fantastic journey. I have gone to five Games, broke the Olympics record in 2004 in Athens and won a gold medal as well in Beijing. I have had a good run at the Olympics.

After I won in Beijing I chatted with a lot of Indian athletes and they were interested and keen to know what I did. They all thought that I had some sort of secret for success, but I just wanted them to understand and realize that the biggest secret is: there is no secret.

The ability to endure and accept hardships became my mantra.

All you need to do is train, train and train. Keep working hard, harder and harder. That's the only thing you need to do.

We shouldn't be fixated to one sport. The Olympics come once in four years, and every athlete works very hard towards that. It's so special in one's career.

It is a big achievement to win a medal at the World Cup. Winning a medal is like doing well at Wimbledon, in tennis. It is one of the biggest shooting competitions in the world.

The work that I have been doing revolved around prevention of injuries, proper rehabilitation, it revolved around well being and holistic approach.

To stand up to worldwide competition, we need a very strong set-up at home that produces athletes right from the beginner's level and has the sustained back-up for the same athlete to finally go and win an Olympic medal.

What the people in the country need is meeting of minds between similar philosophy for betterment and well being of people.

When I started out as a 12-13 year old, it was a stupid idea. I remember when I went to try to get coached by Heinz Reinkemeier and my coach Gaby, when I went and met them, India was nowhere in shooting. They said, 'you want to win a gold at the Olympics? Why don't you ride an elephant back home?'

My having won a gold medal in Beijing is not going to be an extra advantage. It does not have any bearing on how I perform in London in a year's time.

My mother is a trained psychologist.

Sportspersons at the grassroots must get world class exposure in terms of coaches, facilities, physical trainers and mental trainers so that a strong foundation is laid at the base. That's the key to success.

Incorporating science, technology, engineering, analytics and medicine to athletes' training and development not just at elite level but basing it right at the grassroots level is important.

A pressure situation is not a happy feeling.

It was many years ago when I started shooting and I took it up as a complete hobby and a pastime.

I'm quite a loser. I've done nothing in my life for the past 12 years. I'd just eat, sleep, run and do nothing except shooting.

I only wish the sport of shooting was more reachable and there were training centers all over the country where youngsters could go and try shooting.

I do believe the aura of the Olympics is the greatest platform for sport and when one achieves success there it is sure to fire up the imagination of the youth.

I really tried to put my best foot forward all these years.

In my case it was a sustained effort. I was fortunate to have the backing of my parents to start off with and towards the Beijing Olympics the Mittal Champions Trust came into the picture and they helped me a lot.

Shooting is 99 per cent luck and one per cent training