Quotes About Olympics

When I first started boxing, I said that I'd fight in The Olympics, become world champion, and retire undefeated.

For me soccer provides so many emotions, a different feeling every day. I've had the good fortune to take part in major competitions like the Olympics, and winning the World Cup was also unforgettable. We lost in the Olympics and won in the World Cup, and I'll never forget either feeling.

Even if you've been involved in a World Cup, the Olympics is huge. Only the Games has the power to change communities.

Now, they hold the World Cup every year, so it's like any Super Series. It's boring. To me, it's very boring. I think the players will always attend the World Cup. But for the fans, and also for most players, the Olympics and Asian Games will become more important. Nobody will look forward to the World Cup with anticipation.

My teammates and I are best known for our penalty kick victory against China to win the 1999 Women's World Cup. But a lot of people don't realize that when we were first playing soccer on the Women's National Team, the Women's World Cup didn't exist. In fact, Women's Soccer wasn't even in the Olympics.

I think South Africa has shown it can host such a big event as the World Cup, so why not hold the Olympics at some point in Africa? Maybe not just in one country but in a host of countries.

The common vision is winning - and winning a World Cup. We have a three-year plan - win the World Cup, win the Olympics, win the Euros - and the common agreement is you want to create a legacy and win the World Cup; then, everything else falls into place.

We have a very good history in hockey and when I look back into my own career, I know I do have a lot of FIH medals, I have medals almost in every tournament but not one in World Cup or Olympics.

It's something special to break the world record at the Olympics.

I called Daley Thompson after the Games of '84, when he won. He'd had this phenomenal decathlon for nine events - and then he went out there and jogged the 1,500 meters and missed the world record by, like, three points.

The Olympics is a special event and winning is very important. For me as a world record holder and world champion, the only thing I am missing is the Olympic gold medal and that is what I want to achieve in my career.

The London games mark the 24th anniversary of my winning two golds and setting the world record in the heptathlon. Someone is going to want it; records are made to be broken - it's only a matter of time. I hope mine will outlive me.

For every athlete, Olympics is the target, but mine is a little different. I am focusing on improving my timing; that's what I think about.

The booing and the drama help make the Olympics interesting, but at what cost? When will people finally get tired of it and start watching the X-Games or competitive tire rolling instead?

In MMA it's a lot less intimidating because it's not like you get one shot at a title every four years. You get a title shot every couple of months... With the Olympics, you don't always have this, so there is so much more pressure involved.

I'd always said that I'd like to have a title by the next Olympics, so this is a great opportunity, and could be the start of my climb to a world title.

Rio was always going to be on the schedule for me, whether I had won in London or not. Triathlon is one of those sports where the Olympics is always the most important and the most interesting race, and I always wanted to have a crack at Rio and defend my title.

My first Olympics memory was watching Haile Gebrselassie in Sydney 2000. His sprint finish to defend his title really moved me.

I am also hugely excited to then be competing to defend my three Paralympic titles at the Paralympic Games. I believe we will see some amazing times posted and I am very much looking forward to what will be an incredible Olympics and Paralympics in London.

I now have Youth Olympic, Olympic and European Games titles, which is a dream. I didn't fight that well and just scraped through a lot of the fights, but winning is a relief, and it's more points towards the Rio Olympics, which takes a bit of pressure off me.

I was surprised to make it even to the finals of the Olympics, and to get first is above me. I don't even know what's going on, to be honest.

At the 2012 Olympics, there was a nutritionist in the food hall telling us, 'Eat that. And eat that.' After winning my gold, I went to McDonald's for chicken nuggets and a strawberry milkshake, but that was just for the hell of it. I don't feel hungry after a match, to be honest.

Everyone is like, 'What were you thinking on the podium?' I'm like, I'm just like probably thinking, like, 'We're hungry,' to be honest.

What I went through in 1976, it's the same today: It's about all the pressure that you feel, the anxiety, the family, and everything that surrounds the Games, and then getting there knowing this is your big chance, and you're able to come through. It's such a satisfying thing.