Quotes About Competition

I cannot control what goes on in another lane and this is how I focus on the Games. There is no point in being nervous of other swimmers. It's just about focusing on yourself and what you need to do in order to perform at your best.

I was a better basketball player growing up in high school than I was a swimmer. Basketball to this day is my favorite sport.

I was an avid swimmer and was state champ at age 12.

I grew up as a swimmer. And my brother was a football player and I played football.

My mom was a swimmer growing up. She was World Class.

I'm a 100m/200m swimmer so I have the early speed.

There's not that many great swimmers from Brooklyn.

I fell in love with this idea of becoming a swimmer. I knew two strokes at the time but I went and I just loved racing these girls with legs.

In Athens I was 17 and I didn't have any expectations. I was just swimming fast and racing everybody. I didn't have the joy after my races in 2007. I didn't want to go to Beijing. I had to for sponsors.

I'm just a simple guy swimming in a sea of sharks.

Swimming and athletics are the big gigs at the Olympic games. Cycling and rowing are pretty big for Britain, but globally, the two big things are athletics and swimming.

I was bribed into starting swimming with the promise of sweets and by being told that you can win medals. My mum had given me a bag of medals which she had won when she was young, so the idea of winning medals was very exciting.

You have to do what the market requires of you... You either keep swimming, or you sink.

While swimming was always a spotlight sport, I was, if you will, sort of present at the creation when gymnastics became the new star lead-off hitter.

Actually, I always dreamed about getting a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle in Olympic swimming. I always thought that would be the epic award in sports to get.

We play a lot of Nintendo games, a lot of Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, a few different card games, really just stuff so we can stay loose and get your mind off of swimming before going into the meet with full focus.

For me, it's about swimming faster. Anything that's not pertaining to swimming faster is irrelevant to me.

My whole swimming career was about training to beat Michael Phelps in any race I possibly could.

Grime reminds me that swimming is very gladiatorial.

You're either an Olympian or not in swimming.

Getting to the Olympics was, has always been, my swimming dream since I was 8 or 9 years old. You know, right after I started swimming it was, 'I want to make an Olympic team. That's where I want to be.'

Nobody cared about swimming. You could draw a crowd for basketball.

I look at being a capitalist businessperson like riding a bike - if I go too slowly, I'll fall over. Or it's kind of like a shark: if I stop swimming, I'll just die.

I want people to see the passion I have for swimming and become more involved in the sport.