I'm not advocating the strenuous life for everyone or trying to say it's the choice form of life. Anyone who's had the luck or misfortune to be an athlete has to keep his body in shape. The body and mind are closely coordinated. Fattening of the body can lead to fattening of the mind. I would be tempted to say that it can lead to fattening of the soul, but I don't know anything about the soul.
You learn from music, from watching great athletes at work - how disciplined they are, how they move. You learn these things by watching a shortstop at work, how he concentrates on one thing at a time. You learn from classic music, from the blues and jazz, from bluegrass. From all this, you learn how to sustain a great line without bringing in unnecessary words.
I hope that this medal inspires the kids at home to put down guns and knives and pick up a pair of trainers instead.
Cyclists, I work with a number of cyclists. They are great athletes; they are great aerobic athletes. If you ask them to hit a baseball or golf ball, they can't do that.
One of the things I love within music and within sports is how often musicians and athletes thank their audience. In the art world, you would never hear that.
In training everyone focuses on 90% physical and 10% mental, but in the races its 90% mental because there's very little that separates us physically at the elite level
I was always a mean and lean athlete - not tall - not large.
Both parents supported my becoming a world class athlete.
I've seen young men in college going into the NFL and then bite the cheese that's in the trap. They'll throw you a pair of Jordans or a moneybag for their services. It's in that moment where most compromise. This business is unforgivable, and you got a bunch of sharks out there. It's mind boggling that universities don't prepare athletes for what they're going to experience.
It's ironic that Olympic spectators will never have seen Yiannis Kouros, the greatest Greek athlete since Pheidippides
Golf has humbled, humiliated, and just about licked all the great athletes who tried it.
There is the truth about the marathon and very few of you have written the truth. Even if I explain to you, you'll never understand it, you're outside of it.
We all know the guy who sits at the end of the local bar telling the story of how he threw the winning touchdown pass in High School. I don't want to be that guy. Racing gives us all the chance to be athletes again.
Obviously, you're known for what you do. But you still want to be known as a good person. You're a person a lot longer before and after you're a professional athlete.
The doors fly open when you're a professional athlete.
If you trust your nerve as well as your skill, you're capable of a lot more than you can imagine.
The 7 Practices of Exceptional Student Athletes is an excellent book for student athletes to understand what it takes to be successful. It covers all phases of life, and it is filled with wonderful wisdom. Illustrated by brilliant examples of very successful people, The 7 Practices of Exceptional Student Athletes forces student athletes to use their common sense as they work to achieve their goals. Raven Magwood is a very talented person and an extremely gifted writer.
It took me time to realize that the men who won Olympic gold medals in the decathlon are just men, just like me.
There is no mat space for malcontents or dissenters.
Because it is my second season with the team, no time has been wasted in getting to know the people I'm working with. I am aware of what the team is capable of and how the organisation works, and they are familiar with what makes me tick.
Some books claim I have already clocked up a century of Grands Prix, but let me put the record straight. Australia will be my 100th start, and I aim to mark the milestone with a cracking performance. It could even be celebrated with a victory.
If someone is being absolutely critical of me as a driver, what could they say? I am also critical of myself to try and keep things in perspective. That is very important.
I am very much aware that if I am getting good press at the moment I could just as easily be getting bad press. I cannot have the good and forget the bad. You have to accept it both ways.
The problem comes when you say that danger is part of the equation. Then you don't do any more work on safety. That shouldn't happen.
I had a lot of time to think, and that is not good for your mind. And when it actually happened, it was not so much a celebration but the relief. It was an exorcism anxiety. After each race there is a procedure in which you get taken off to the podium and the TV interviews.
