Athlete Quotes

I played basketball and soccer my freshman year in high school.

I hope all you young girls see yourself up there... we were just like you.

Follow your heart and make it your decision.

Take your victories, whatever they may be, cherish them, use them, but don't settle for them.

It is more difficult to stay on top than to get there.

I got to experience soccer at the highest level at a young age; I decided I wanted to be part of that for as long as possible.

Soccer isn't very social. Plus, if you don't like someone on the other team, you can do something about it.

The person that said winning isn't everything, never won anything.

Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it.

You can't just beat a team, you have to leave a lasting impression in their minds so they never want to see you again.

Being a good teammate is when you try to sprint down a ball that everyone thinks is going out of bounds. But you go after it anyways and you get it.

True champions aren't always the ones that win, but those with the most guts.

The vision of a champion is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when nobody else is looking.

I am building a fire, and everyday I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match.

I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.

I've worked too hard and too long to let anything stand in the way of my goals. I will not let my teammates down and I will not let myself down.

They've pushed me down a big ravine, but I'll get back up to the top.

That's what makes the Ryder Cup in golf so much better than the Masters or the U.S. Open. To be a part of something that is not about personal achievement, but about representing everyone and sharing it with the whole country, it's wonderful.

So as an amateur Olympic competitor I loved criticism, because it made me better. But now as a professional I don't really know how to channel it or where to take it, so I don't take it quite as well.

Rationality is not one of this industry's attributes.

Most other competitions are individual achievements, but the Olympic Games is something that belongs to everybody.

Male figure skating is different than female figure skating; we're not America's sweetheart.

I'm very accessible. I don't get into this ego thing.

I was nine-years-old when I first put on skates.

I was more interested in skating and the girls and traveling than I was in calculus.

I started skating and I kind of liked it because I could run circles around the guys that wouldn't pick me to play baseball.

I graduated a the top of my class in the '84 Olympic Games; I won a gold medal.

I don't think most teachers realize how much impact they have.

I didn't want to be the sissy figure skater, you know.

Half of figure skating is opinion, convincing judges.