Quotes from Lynn Davies

There are a lot of kids coming in to athletics, but there is also a big drop-out rate. We've got it right at the top end, but we have to maintain the base of the pyramid.

I felt I was never going to beat Igor Ter-Ovanesyan or Ralph Boston because they were the joint world record holders.

To win an Olympic title when there are 205 nations taking part, you have to be super-human. You have to be superman.

I am delighted that Jason Gardener will be taking over from me as President of U.K. Athletics. With his competitive background in the sport as an Olympic champion coupled with his engaging personality and his experience as a board member of U.K. Athletics, he possesses all the qualities required to be a successful president.

We must have PE teachers and coaches who are well trained and qualified.

I had jumped about 6.40 metres with no training, no run-up, and certainly no skill, when this big, good-looking guy came up to me and told me I could be great.

If you have a coach helping you, developing your skills alongside you, that's when you're on your way to becoming not just a participant but achieving.

You've got to be actively involved in the process yourself and you've got to listen carefully to what the coach is saying, take that on board yourself and implement what the coach is saying.

It is almost impossible to divorce sport from politics, but sport is such a positive factor in today's society - there is nothing else which will bring so many people together in that atmosphere.

As a youngster, I enjoyed sport and my ambition was to be a great sportsman.

I remember one of my first international trips to Poland. After a long, tortuous journey, we arrived at the hotel exhausted but without the team management, who had gone ahead of us from the airport in cars, checked into the best rooms, and left us with what was left.

The Cardiff Half Marathon has already proved itself to be one of the biggest and best road races in the U.K., and when the best athletes in the world run on the same course, the times should be spectacular. But the real beauty of this event is that ordinary runners get the chance to line up on the same start line as the best athletes in the world.

I still do cardiovascular exercises, aerobic exercises, and then strength training, as it's important to keep your muscle strength, as every decade you lose about 10% of this.

I am a sportsman, and I hate politics.

I saw what politics did to the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and I would defend the right of a sportsman to go and play and perform where they want.

My sporting heroes were Ken Jones, Stanley Matthews, and Cliff Morgan.

When you win, suddenly this celebrity status is hoisted upon you.

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

We have to harness the Olympic experience and this inspiration young people have to get into sport.

It was not about the guy who could jump the furthest; it was about the guy who could jump the furthest on that particular day in the worst conditions of any Olympic long jump final.

The IOC are the guardians of the Olympic ideal.

I think a four-year ban would effectively rule out one Olympic games - a life ban is too harsh. I think everyone deserves a second chance. If you come back from missing one Olympic games and serving a four-year ban, you are a pretty determined and reformed character.

Belief is such an important aspect of sport.

It's important for me that I stay in shape, although each year it gets a little harder.