Rio Olympic Games 50 days: 50 classic quotes from Ian Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Michael Jordan and more
WITH the Rio Games now just 50 days away the excitement is starting to build. Let our 50 classic Olympic quotes get you in the mood even more ...
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WITH the Rio Games now just 50 days away the excitement is starting to build. Let our 50 classic Olympic quotes get you in the mood even more ...
“I touched the wall and all my dreams, hopes and ambitions basically coalesced into one moment.”
Australian swimmer Duncan Armstrong on winning Olympic gold.
“Inspire a generation’ is our motto. Not necessarily ‘Create a generation’ ... which is what they sometimes get up to in the Olympic village.”
Officials at the London 2012 Games respond to stories of widespread ‘extra-curricular’ activities on site.
“The female body is a masterpiece. Everyone likes to look at the female body, especially in dynamic, athletic sport.”
Natalie Cook, who claimed gold at Sydney in 2000, defends beach volleyball uniforms.
“The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. To spread these principles is to build up a strong and more valiant and, above all, more scrupulous and more generous humanity.”
Founder of the modern Games Pierre de Coubertin.
“When anyone tells me I can’t do anything, I’m just not listening any more.”
Flamboyant queen of the 1988 Seoul Games, Florence ‘Flo-Jo’ Griffith Joyner.
“When baby kicks, I will breathe in and breathe out and try to calm myself down and talk to baby: ‘Behave yourself and help mummy to shoot!’”
Malaysian rifle-shooter Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi, who was eight-months pregnant at London 2012.
“People come out to see you perform and you’ve got to give them the best you have within you. The lives of most men are patchwork quilts. Or at best one matching outfit with a closet and a laundry bag full of incongruous accumulations. A lifetime of training for just 10 seconds.”
Olympic icon Jesse Owens.
“Eight strokes before the line I had this incredible numbness through my body. I was paddling from memory.”
Australia’s Clint Robinson, on winning gold in the 1000m kayak singles in 1992.
“Just tell me what you’ve been going through this past week.”
Journalist to British medal-winning gymnast Beth Tweddle’s parents
Mr Tweddle: “I’ve been laying a patio.”
“It is the inspiration of the Olympic Games that drives people not only to compete but to improve, and to bring lasting spiritual and moral benefits to the athlete and inspiration to those lucky enough to witness the athletic dedication.”
Australian middle-distance runner Herb Elliott.
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career … I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
‘Dream Team’ star turn, Michael Jordan.
“There is water in every lane, so it is OK.”
Ian Thorpe on drawing lane five for one of his many, many finals.
“Hard days are the best because that’s when champions are made.”
Gymnast Gabby Douglas after winning gold in London.
“A silver medal gets you as many free beers as a gold medal does.”
Aussie shooter Russell Mark.
“This ability to conquer oneself is no doubt the most precious of all things sport bestows.”
Four-time Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast, Olga Korbut.
“I’m just a normal Aussie guy who likes a smoke and a drink. I wish they’d had the final between 2am and 4am. I might have won.”
Sydney Olympic silver medallist long jumper Jai Taurima.
“I swam my brains out.”
Mark Spitz succinctly explains his seven gold medals in 1972.
“I don’t think I’ll take the medal as the minute and a half of the race I actually won. I’ll take it as the last decade of the hard slog I put in.”
‘Accidental’ gold medallist skater Steven Bradbury.
“If that is the worse thing to happen to me in my life, I would have led a pretty happy life.”
Australian Grant Davies, after being awarded a kayak gold before minutes later being told he actually only won silver.
“The Olympics remain the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sport, and maybe in life itself.”
Australian Olympic swimming legend Dawn Fraser.
“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit.”
The fastest woman of the 1960s, Wilma Rudolph.
“I didn’t rescue the nation from the depths of Napoleon Bonaparte, but you do the best you can.”
British multiple gold medallist Ben Ainslie responding to claims he was now the nation’s greatest ever sailor.
“I am building a fire, and every day I train I add more fuel. At just the right moment I light the match.”
US soccer legend, Mia Hamm.
“Anyone sees me go anywhere near a boat, you’ve got my permission to shoot me.”
British rower Sir Steve Redgrave, immediately after his fourth consecutive gold medal in 1996 (four years before his fifth, in Sydney ...).
“Friendships are born on the field of athletic strife and the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.”
Jesse Owens on the real spirit of Olympic competition.
“There’s something about getting into chlorine water that you just automatically go.”
Swimmer Ryan Lochte on relieving himself in the Olympic pool.
“People with disabilities want to be recognised for what they can do, not what they can’t do.” Australian Paralympic swimmer Karni Liddell.
“Victory is in having done your best. If you’ve done your best, you’ve won.”
Legendary US Olympic track and field coach, Bill Bowerman.
“All I’ve done is run fast. I don’t see why people should make much fuss about that.”
Dutch track star and winner of four gold medals at the 1948 Games, Fanny Blankers-Koen.
“My wife is here and I could hear her screaming. She has got a very high-pitched voice.”
Japanese middleweight boxer Ryota Murata after winning a bout in London.
“To anyone who has started out on a long campaign believing that the gold medal was destined for him, the feeling when, all of a sudden, the medal has gone somewhere else is quite indescribable.”
Double Olympic gold medallist Sebastian Coe, after losing the 800m final in 1980.
“If you fail to prepare, you’re prepared to fail.”
US swimming legend, Mark Spitz.
“They picked me for a doping test. They simply cannot believe that such a great body can be built without any banned stuff.”
Hungarian water-polo star who won three golds medals in consecutive Games from 2000, Zoltan Szcesi.
“Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come.”
Double gold medal tennis superstar, Serena Williams.
“I was really enjoying my ride and just thinking how beautiful it was here and the next minute I was picking gravel out of my head.”
Aussie equestrian rider Megan Jones on taking a tumble in Beijing.
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
Muhammad Ali, gold medal winner in Rome in 1960.
“It’s all about the journey, not the outcome.”
Sprinter and long-jumper Carl Lewis, winner of nine Olympic gold medals.
“I wanted no part of politics. And I wasn’t in Berlin to compete against any one athlete. The purpose of the Olympics, anyway, was to do your best. As I’d learned long ago from Charles Riley, the only victory that counts is the one over yourself.”
Jesse Owens, again, on the 1936 ‘Nazi’ Olympics.
“Each of us has a fire in our hearts for something. It’s our goal in life to find it and keep it lit.” All-round gymnastics gold-medallist at the 1984 Games, Mary Lou Retton.
“The headgear … it kept falling down over my eyes. Then my contacts fell out in the first round, so I was having to wait for my opponent to get a little closer so I could throw my shots.”
American Flyweight boxer Rau’shee Warren explains a defeat.
“I didn’t lose the gold, I won the silver.”
Michelle Kwan, figure skating medallist at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics.
“Qualifying for the Olympic Games was one of those moments where you just cry because it was like you’ve climbed Mount Everest.”
South African Paralympic swimmer, Natalie du Toit.
“Never put an age limit on your dreams.”
Dara Torres, US swimming gold medalist.
“I was not talented enough to run and smile at the same time.”
Emil Zatopek, Czech long-distance runner (won three gold medals at the 1952 Olympic Games).
“Sometimes it’s just the beer and bikinis that get people to come and watch, but it’s the competition that’s keeping them there.”
USA beach volleyballer Kerri Walsh Jennings
“I have been dubbed ‘the girl who puts the glamour into hammer”
British hammer thrower Sophie Hitchon
“With so many people saying it couldn’t be done, all it takes is an imagination.”
Michael Phelps on securing his eighth Olympic gold at a single Games in Beijing.
“One shouldn’t be afraid to lose; this is sport. One day you win; another day you lose. Of course, everyone wants to be the best. This is normal. This is what sport is about. This is why I love it.”
Oksana Baiul, Olympic gold medalist
“The greatest memory for me of the 1984 Olympics was not the individual honors, but standing on the podium with my teammates to receive our team gold medal.”
American gymnast gold medallist Mitch Gaylord
“My only focus was the Olympics because in my sport, that is the ultimate. Everything is geared toward that, and my entire life was geared around getting there and winning gold.”
Cammi Granato, American women’s ice hockey star
Originally published as Rio Olympic Games 50 days: 50 classic quotes from Ian Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Michael Jordan and more
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