Olympics famous quotes
04-01-2025
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When I was trying out for my first Olympics at 16, my family and coaches tried to regulate what I ate. But the stricter they got, the more I rebelled.
-- Alicia Sacramone -
It was a dream come true for me to be at the Olympics.
-- Alicia Sacramone -
I've never been cocky. Even right now I don't like to talk about the Olympics.
-- Aly Raisman -
For me, by far, the Olympics is the biggest sporting event in the world.
-- Andy Murray -
But inside of me I knew that the Olympics were still there. I was still young enough. I knew that once I transitioned out of hockey, it would be really hard to go back.
-- Angela Ruggiero -
You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can't visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally,
-- Barack Obama -
The Olympics shows the community what gymnastics is all about.
-- Bela Karolyi -
Anabolic ***** were not banned until after the 72 Olympics.
-- Bill Toomey -
I don't rank competitions - every single one is the Olympics to me.
-- Blanka Vlasic -
The Olympics must be my curse or something.
-- Blanka Vlasic -
Russell joined the team in December, 1956, following the Olympics.
-- Bob Cousy -
I will remember all the days at the Olympics.
-- Bonnie Blair -
The job of mayor of London is unbelievably taxing, particularly in the run-up to the Olympics.
-- Boris Johnson -
My last real race was at the Olympics in Sydney in 2000.
-- Cathy Freeman -
There is something in the Olympics, indefinable, springing from the soul, that must be preserved.
-- Chris Brasher -
Looking after a very sick child was the Olympics of parenting.
-- Chris Cleave -
It's not the Olympics. It's Concord, New Hampshire, and a homecoming should reflect the community I'm part of.
-- Christa McAuliffe -
The Canadians have really stepped it up these Olympics. It looks very promising for Vancouver.
-- Cindy Klassen -
Before I was an actor I was a break dancer, one of those street performers you see. I guess my introduction into the professional world of performing was a stint as back up dancer for Lionel Richie and I performed at the closing ceremony at the '84 Olympics.
-- Cuba Gooding, Jr. -
If you're going to stay in the Olympics, you've got to be entertaining and get sponsorship.
-- Dan Gable -
I was still young when I missed Beijing. I was favourite to win a medal but I knew I had time. My coach advised me to stay at school and finish my exams. Even if I had gone and won the Olympics, I might not have handled the pressure. So I moved on.
-- David Rudisha -
I was ready in 2008 for the Olympic Games but unfortunately I missed the Kenyan trials with a thigh injury. I watched those Olympics but it was tough to watch. But it was good in the end because a Kenyan, Wilfred Bungei, was the champion.
-- David Rudisha -
The Olympics remain the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sport, and maybe in life itself.
-- Dawn Fraser -
If there's anything that is the center of my career both creatively and emotionally, it's the Olympics.
-- Dick Ebersol -
I'm very impressed. All the crowds I've seen are very enthusiastic. It's not the first time every seat hasn't been sold at the Winter Olympics.
-- Dick Pound -
Prior to the 1976 Olympics, I was a 5,000m runner.
-- Don Kardong -
And then, looking back at my first Olympics, and when the pressure was on, in '94 and '98, and looking back and going, wow. I sensed and felt what Brian had gone through.
-- Elvis Stojko -
My grandmother always acted in other people's interests, whether they wanted her to or not. If they'd had an Olympics in martyrdom my grandmother would have lost on purpose.
-- Emily Levine -
Immediately after the Olympics, I was pretty fatigued.
-- Eric Heiden -
Olympics is global competition in which eighty, ninety, hundred, hundred and ten countries participate.
-- George Pataki -
I remember at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Shaq always wanted me to show him steps over and over.
-- Hakeem Olajuwon -
I'm really happy that it's in Russia. I've had a lot of success here. I had my first world championships here when I was younger so I am happy to do the Olympics here. I am really enjoying myself.
-- Hayley Wickenheiser -
Am I worried? Sure, I'm worried. When it comes to the Olympics, it can't be a predictable finish.
-- Hayley Wickenheiser -
People always step up and do things out of the ordinary at the Olympics,
-- Jason Lezak -
Well, Harry Reid and other members of congress, they're just furious over this Olympic uniform deal. He says we should burn the uniforms, and it's an embarrassment and a disgrace. Not as embarrassing as congress constantly borrowing money from the Chinese, but still embarrassing.
-- Jay Leno -
The Olympics can no more lose money than a man can have a baby.
-- Jean Drapeau -
The Olympics show that your dream can come true if you work hard. It's not impossible.
-- Jencarlos Canela -
I was around 15 when I first wanted to compete in an Olympics. I even remember the first time I got to wear a GB kit as a junior. I've even kept it. It's in my mum's loft somewhere, probably gone mouldy by now.
-- Jessica Ennis -
I'm actually the daytime host of the Olympics on NBC.
-- Jim Lampley -
....What I learned was that these athletes were not disabled, they were superabled. The Olympics is where heroes are made. The Paralympics is where heroes come.
-- Joey Reiman -
I love the Olympic Games. The Olympics are an event that few can fathom but all can enjoy, and that's why athletes work our whole lives to put on the greatest show on Earth.
-- Johnny Weir -
If [American Idol] was the Olympics, I'd still get a medal. It was a great race.
-- Kimberley Locke -
Training for the Olympics was a lifelong endeavor and took many years.
-- Kristi Yamaguchi -
My experience at the 1992 Winter Olympics was my fulfillment of dreaming the Impossible Dream.
-- Kristi Yamaguchi -
I met Jesse Owens once. He was a remarkable individual, and I have tremendous respect for what he did in the Olympics under the circumstances.
-- Lee Trevino -
I will never be satisfied, like the Olympics.
-- Li Ka-shing -
I don't give up easily. I have plans to be around for a while.
-- Lindsey Vonn -
The ability to manage large assets well - it's like being Michael Jordan or winning the gold in the Olympics; it's what you aspire to.
-- Louis Bacon -
Team GB's success at the Beijing Olympics can, in part, be said to have been made in Manchester. For example, all the cycling medal winners trained at Manchester's velodrome, the National Cycling Centre.
-- Lucy Powell -
The Beijing Olympics represent China's grand entrance onto the world stage and confirmation of its new superpower status.
-- Ma Jian -
Is this the Olympics or One Life to Live?
-- Margaret Carlson -
I did pretty well at the Sydney Olympics, but those were my first Games.
-- Marion Jones -
When I went to the Olympics, I had every intention of shaving the moustache off, but I realized I was getting so many comments about it — and everybody was talking about it — that I decided to keep it.
-- Mark Spitz -
My biggest loss was the Olympics. I just can't forget losing. I never will
-- Mark Spitz -
For athletes, the Olympics are the ultimate test of their worth.
-- Mary Lou Retton -
Pay-per-view would deprive many kids of the delight of seeing the Olympics.
-- Mary Lou Retton -
Seeing the Olympics come to China made me want to get more involved.
-- Michael Chang -
I had dreamed of being at the Olympics since I was 7 years old.
-- Michelle Kwan -
I have been here before in my head. To everyone else, it is my first Olympics. To me, it's my thousandth.
-- Mikaela Shiffrin -
I don't think about the trials and the Olympics a lot. If I do, it's just going to stress me out and get me worried.
-- Missy Franklin -
My life has been a whirlwind since the '94 Olympics.
-- Nancy Kerrigan -
Barcelona is now in the past. I was sick and boxed in, and that's understandable why I lost.
-- Noureddine Morceli -
I think my 3:27 for 1500m is worth 7:21 for 3000m.
-- Noureddine Morceli -
By bringing Little Sun to Tate Modern and the London Olympics, I hope to realise an art project for those who typically have no access to global events of this scale.
-- Olafur Eliasson -
I've been to three Olympics and I don't feel I've ever quite achieved my best at any of them.
-- Paula Radcliffe -
I felt totally myself, nothing like the emptiness and horrible feeling I had then [pulling out the Olympics] - no dizziness.
-- Paula Radcliffe -
In 1968, in the midst of the tumultuous 1960s, the Olympics were much more than just another event
-- Peggy Fleming -
The Olympic Games are for the world and all nations must be admitted to them.
-- Pierre de Coubertin -
The Olympic Games were created for the exhaltation of the individual athlete.
-- Pierre de Coubertin -
Winning medals wasn't the point of the Olympics. It's the participating that counts.
-- Pierre de Coubertin -
I've put myself forward to be involved. Whether I get picked, we'll have to wait and see. Obviously everybody is excited about it, about the Olympics coming to London and the football being played in different parts of Britain.
-- Ryan Giggs -
But it is nice to know that you have other races lined up, because sometimes you can get so focused on your next marathon that it can become kind of unhealthy in some ways. So it's nice to have something else to slap you in the face and say, all right, there is life after the Olympics.
-- Ryan Hall -
I'm going to keep living my life the way I've been living my life, and nothing is going to change that even if the Olympics are coming up.
-- Ryan Lochte -
If I break my ankle right now, this Olympics wasn't meant to be.
-- Ryan Lochte -
I think after the 2008 Olympics I wasn't really satisfied with the outcome, so I knew I had to change some things.
-- Ryan Lochte -
The big picture is the Trials and Olympics. I just have to keep focused for that, keep moving forward.
-- Ryan Lochte -
I am at the Olympics, I forgot to tie my suit, how is this gonna happen?
-- Ryan Lochte -
My last Olympics, I had a girlfriend — big mistake. Now I’m single, so London should be really good. I’m excited.
-- Ryan Lochte -
And we realized that it was kind of a starting point for gymnastics, to go professional, and also to just get a lot more of the audiences in the arenas on the off years, in the years that we're not in the Olympics.
-- Shannon Miller -
At an Olympics Game, you want to enjoy it, especially if you know it's going to be your last one.
-- Shannon Miller -
I'm proud of the U.S.A. We've done some amazing things. To wear our flag in the Olympics is an honor.
-- Shaun White -
It sounds funny, but the 2008 Olympics were something that just kind of happened, and I was lucky they came at a point when I was uninjured and well prepared. As a gymnast, you can't ask for much more.
-- Shawn Johnson -
My coach, Liang Chow, had one rule while I was training for the 2008 Olympics: no skiing. I could do anything I wanted outside the gym, he said, except ski.
-- Shawn Johnson -
People only see gymnastics on TV and in the Olympics at such an extreme. So it can be intimidating.
-- Shawn Johnson -
Of course, when you're training your whole life to get to the Olympics, you train for gold.
-- Shawn Johnson -
Before the start of the '76 Olympics, I'd had 160 amateur fights. I won 155 and lost five
-- Sugar Ray Leonard -
When I was training for the Olympics, I didn't eat the way I should have. I missed out on much-needed protein and opted for every easy carb.
-- Summer Sanders -
The highlight of my career? The Olympics, of course.
-- Tara Lipinski -
I raced locally for a year, went to Europe the year after and went to the Olympics the year after that.
-- Taylor Phinney -
It's my first Olympics, I'm very young. It's incredible.
-- Ted Ligety -
I took part in the sun-tanning Olympics – I just got bronze.
-- Tim Vine -
I'm not allowed to celebrate as normal eighteen year olds probably would but I'm going to save it for after the Olympics!
-- Tom Daley -
Truthfully I don't remember much about anything after the Olympics 'cause I, I lost everything.
-- Tonya Harding -
To even get to the Olympics, I have to qualify for the 2013 World Championships and the standard is high. I know I am always going to be a few points behind the top guys.
-- Vanessa Mae -
I have prepared myself to be at my peak in London. But in the Olympics, there are so many factors. You need to stay alert all the time, and a lapse of concentration, even for a second, will let you down.
-- Vijender Singh -
I knew very little or nothing about the Olympics. Having qualified was itself a big achievement for me, and then being there was quite overwhelming. Although I lost in the opening round, but the fact that I fought well was enough for me to take away from Athens.
-- Vijender Singh
