Olympic Athlete Quotes

#1. You can't be a creative thinker if you're not stimulating your mind, just as you can't be an Olympic athlete if you don't train regularly.

Ken Robinson

#2. Maybe there's a little girl who thinks she can be an Olympic athlete, and she sees all the things I struggled through to get here. Yeah, I didn't walk away with a medal or run away with a medal, but I think there's lessons to be learned when you win and lessons to be learned when you lose.

Lolo Jones

#3. I had female role models to look up to starting in middle school, athletes like Julie Foudy and Mia Hamm who made me realize that there was room in the world of sports for women. They ignited my dream of becoming an Olympic athlete.

Jennie Finch

#4. Every Olympic athlete prepares differently. For me, I am 100 percent into the sport. And if I decide to really make a crucial career decision to say, 'This is something I want to do,' I want to leave no stone unturned in my preparation.

Apolo Ohno

#5. I still can't believe I'm an Olympic athlete.

Shawn Johnson

#6. I didn't train to make the Olympic team until 1968. I simply trained for the moment. I never even imagined I would be an Olympic athlete. It always seemed to evolve.

Dick Fosbury

#7. My life was always different growing up. I mean, even before the show, my dad was who he is. He's an Olympic athlete. And we were going to premieres, like 'Finding Nemo' premieres, and we would be little kids, like, before the show, walking down the red carpet.

Kendall Jenner

#8. The first time I walked into the Olympic athlete village seeing the Visa ATM machine with my picture on it and the Chinese characters saying 'Destiny.' For some reason, it just boosted my confidence and it was before I had even worked out or had my first training or competed.

Nastia Liukin

#9. As a young girl, I just wanted to have fun and compete. There were no goals of becoming an Olympic athlete. I wanted to hang out with my friends. I wanted to do something fun, and that's what I did

Lolo Jones

#10. This year I spent two months in Australia, and I did all the training camps in London. It was a really hard winter because I want to give the best performance of my career at the Olympic Games! That is the only title I'm missing and I will do my best to take it!

Peter Kauzer

#11. The water here in Cardiff is much easier than in London, so for us it is more relaxing paddling here. This race is for us a continuation of our training, we will compete in only this World cup. We don't want to travel too much before the Olympic Games and we want to focus on the Games.

Pavol Hochschorner

#12. The Olympic Games are always in the head of every sports athlete. We work for that. The Olympics are the most important race. They're each four years, and everybody wants to show their best performance.

Tina Maze

#13. When I look back at the world championships, I know there's a lot of room for improvement, I'm always up for a challenge. The Olympics, they don't define me, I've had some good and some bad. But it's all about the Olympic experience.

Michelle Kwan

#14. It was not the money that was my main motive; it was the challenge and the thrill where I got my kicks. Armed robbery to me was like a sport. To take on an armored vehicle with two armed security guards - it was like an athlete attending the Olympic Games.

Drexel Deal

#15. It has been said that the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games is something that an athlete will remember for the rest of their life. It is true. That moment when you walk into the Olympic Stadium as part of the Australian Olympic Team, is a moment that I will never forget.

Jeff Fenech

#16. In 1981, I spoke at the Olympic Congress. I was scandalised that I was the first athlete to be given that chance. But I made the most of it.

Sebastian Coe

#17. I trained with Olympics Athlete Jeanette Kwakye - who is amazing! And Shani Anderson, who is an excellent Olympic runner. We trained five times a week; running, circuits, weights, working out in the gym, and on the track. It was an insane time.

Lily James

#18. To me the Olympic spirit embodies the magic of competition, hard work and coming to a point in your career when you're around the best athletes in the world, and having the whole world watching.

Julia Mancuso

#19. Because I am Olympic champion, everyone assumes I am this perfect athlete who should never lose. Every time I step in the ring, I am expected to win.

Jade Jones

#20. It's ironic that Olympic spectators will never have seen Yiannis Kouros, the greatest Greek athlete since Pheidippides

Ed Ayres

#21. Michelle Kwan means more to the United States Olympic Committee than maybe any athlete that's every performed. She's a leader, she's been gracious, she's somebody to cherish forever. She's a real loss to the United States Olympic Committee, to the United States of America and, I think, to the world.

Peter Ueberroth

#22. The life of an athlete does have to be lonely and you have to be focused on your craft and what you do. Loneliness is just a sacrifice you make as an Olympic-level athlete.

Johnny Weir

#23. I never dreamed of being a flagbearer. Every athlete has a wish to get to the Olympic Games. I had that wish, but to carry the flag of your country is doubly thrilling.

Shani Davis

#24. There was Glenn Cunningham, whose legs were so badly burned as a child that he was told he would not walk again. But he became one of the fastest Olympic milers in history. Glenn Cunningham told me that faith and positive thinking are 85 per cent of an athlete's success;

Norman Vincent Peale

#25. No wrong in aiming or applauding the win but always agnize one's efforts.

Mohith Agadi

#26. It was bad enough to have toppled from the Olympic heights to make my living competing with animals. But the competition wasn't even fair. No man could beat a race horse, not even for 100 yards.

Jesse Owens

#27. An Olympic medal is the greatest achievement and honor that can be received by an athlete. I would swap any World Title to have won gold at the Olympics.

Jeff Fenech

#28. As an athlete, I hope we can remain focused on the Olympic spirit which celebrates achievement in sport by peoples of all nations.

Brian Boitano

#29. My father's encouragement is what has brought me this far, because when I grew up I wanted to be like him, and I knew I had that ability to become an athlete. Being an Olympian is one of the greatest things, and being an Olympic gold medallist is one of the most prestigious titles in the world.

David Rudisha

#30. The Olympic Games is holy. Athletes from around the world, including myself, of course, dream to participate.

Yao Ming

#31. Being the first Olympic medallist of my country means that I have some obligations and it was a very tough job for me to resume a proper training schedule due to the (new) status I have in my country.

Benjamin Boukpeti

#32. Bill Russell is one of the great names in basketball, an all-American ... and the only athlete to ever win an NCAA Championship, an Olympic Gold Medal, and a professional championship all in the same year-1956 ... But Bill Russell had this one problem: He threw up before every game.

John Eliot

#33. In my Olympic history I don't think I have achieved my potential as an athlete. That's what I want when I look back at my career. I want to be able to say I gave it my best shot.

Paula Radcliffe

#34. I really feel like that concept of enjoying the now and not worrying about the future is what my coach has been trying to teach me for 14 years - and that is what has made me such a different athlete 10 years later, and that is what has made me strong enough mentally to make this Olympic team.

Melanie Roach

#35. 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.

Herb Elliott

#36. Female success stories from sporting events like the Olympic Games have played a role in shifting the Indian perception to see the female athlete as a hero and a role model for young Indian girls.

Richard Attias

#37. I remember as a kid watching one of the Olympic games, and I was cheering for a big track athlete. He was the favorite to win, and he lost. I realized in that moment the pain he felt was so much greater than the pain that those who never thought they were going to win would have felt had they lost.

Malcolm Gladwell

#38. The Olympic Games belong to the athletes and not to the politicians.

Avery Brundage

#39. The favorite to win the Olympic gold medal in archery is a legally blind athlete from South Korea, mainly because everyone else is too scared to compete next to him.

Jimmy Fallon

#40. The Olympic games should be a matter between individual athletes and the gods. Noisy flag-waving dishonors gods and men alike.

Dave Beard

#41. I've never felt that I was less of an athlete or not accomplished athletically because I didn't win an Olympic medal. It's definitely something I would have liked to have added to my resume, but at the same time I think I can look back at my athletic career and feel that I was one of the best.

Mary Decker

#42. The Olympic Games were created for the exhaltation of the individual athlete.

Pierre De Coubertin

#43. The U.S. Olympic spirit award is an award that is given to an athlete who embodies the Olympic spirit in more ways than just on the playing field, in showing incredible perseverance, in overcoming obstacles, and what we wanted to do is have everybody can vote on-line.

Brian Boitano