Quotes About Achievement

Both my kids are international swimmers and national champions.

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.

Swimming gives me immense satisfaction.

Michael Phelps wouldn't have been on the Wheaties box if I stuck with swimming. I've been swimming since I was a little kid. I still swim. I'm the best.

It's cool just because I've had this dream of changing the sport of swimming and it's finally happening.

For people who believe that they can't do it, I hope I'm an inspiration to others to get out there and try swimming. You might be pretty good at it.

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.

This is my 20th year in the sport. I've known swimming and that's it. I don't want to swim past age 30; if I continue after this Olympics, and come back in 2016, I'll be 31. I'm looking forward to being able to see the other side of the fence.

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.

Being happy outside the pool means fast swimming in the pool.

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

You're either an Olympian or not in swimming.

I'm still 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.'

After my cancer diagnosis, I really took my swimming to a new level.

I grew up in Florida, so you start swimming at the age of 1, really. By 10, I was competitive swimming, and by 12, I had aspirations to be the best in the world.

I think I'm going to my grave without swimming from Cuba to Florida.

For previous generations, swimming the English Channel was the feat to accomplish. And that's been done.

I started swimming when I was four because my brother wanted to join a swim team, and I wanted to do what he did. They said I had to be six, but if I could swim a lap, then I could participate. So I swam a lap, and the rest is history.

I can't imagine what I would be doing if I wasn't swimming. It is what I want to do now; it is what I want to do in the foreseeable future, and that is what I'm focusing on.

I want to run a marathon in the immediate future. In the future future, I want to do ironmans. I cycle long distances. The only thing I have to work on is the swimming. I'm a good swimmer, but I've never done long distances like that.

Swimming is great because there are levels of goals. First, when I was four, it was making it to the other end and overcoming the fear of standing up in front of everybody at a swim meet because I was such a shy kid.

I've actually medalled in every single swimming meet except for the Olympics, so that's the goal. I want to get on that podium - I really do. But for me, that's not something I can control... so I will be happy with going out there and swimming a race that I'm proud of.

When we were very, very young, I was actually better than Cate was at swimming, and I was not very humble and thought I was the greatest thing ever and rubbed it in her face a bit, and then she started trying really hard and started beating me.