Explore popular quotes and sayings by a British athlete Denise Lewis.
Last updated on November 7, 2024.
Denise Lewis is a British sports presenter and former track and field athlete, who specialised in the heptathlon. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was twice Commonwealth Games champion, was the 1998 European Champion and won World Championships silver medals in 1997 and 1999. She was the first European to win the Olympic heptathlon, though Europeans, including Briton Mary Peters, had won the Olympic pentathlon precursor event.
I love babies; there was a need in me for one more.
Athletes make nothing like the money that footballers or even cricketers earn. If you are a female athlete you are at the bottom of the ladder.
I fell in love with athletics watching the 1980 Moscow Olympics, aged seven. I thought: 'These people aren't human, they're immortal.'
People would measure you by your shape, you used to find a lot of male athletes peeling off their tops - just to say, 'Have some of this.' I guess my abs were a sign to people. 'Watch out, she's in shape.'
I'll never forget how frustrated I felt when I didn't make the team for Barcelona in 1992.
I will always encourage any young person, especially young black females. If you want to be involved in sport please do it.
During my career I had been training twice a day, every day, because it was all about me. That was the job. But with kids, my hours were vastly reduced.
If you reach the heights then it's great but if you can inspire young people at school, university or as a coach, then it is a fantastic life.
My mum gave me lots of advice growing up, but the general theme to everything was 'Be yourself, be consistent.' Whether it was in sport or life generally, it was about treating everyone the same, staying consistent.
I have moments of happiness every single day.
Whenever we go out, we'll need to bring a car seat and tons of baby paraphernalia. In fact we're going to need a bigger car. As a family of six, we'll probably need a truck!
Winning that gold medal in Sydney really did change my life.
Retiring can be hard but it's nice to be in a position where I can run and feel liberated doing it.
No, I didn't break a world record. No, I didn't win by a huge margin. But it's how you do in the battle. I've taken my place in history and I'm very proud of that.
I'm always striving to be the best, and that works for me, but it might not be everyone's desire.
Anything that looks at sport in its entirety is my bag. It's not just about bringing back medals, it's about communities, people's lives, how sport can make a difference.
Dickie Davies was a legend. And he's a really nice man, too.
I'd like to see a show about what happens to young sports stars who've been pushed too hard by their parents or coaches.
I love meandering down the streets of Tuscany and the food tastes like it's been kissed by the sun.
I was 11 when I first saw the Alexander Stadium. I walked through the door and thought, 'Wow, this is it. This is where I want to be.'
The magazines drive me insane, because it's such an unrealistic ideology, that you're going to have a baby, or even just be out of shape for a little while, and then ping back into shape.
You have the burning desire as a successful sportsperson and that needs to go somewhere when you finish. It is a problem so many people have when their careers end and I was no different.
The initial feelings when you step into the Olympic arena representing your country, your community, representing yourself can be really overwhelming.
You never remember what you say to the Queen, she just has this aura about her.
I'm a soul and R'n'B kind of girl.
I still wanted to see it officially on the scoreboard but, when it was announced 'Denise Lewis is Olympic champion,' it was just like a volcano of elation, relief and satisfaction exploding through my system.
At the age of 46, I'm a mum of four.
You think of Ingrid Kristiansen, Liz McColgan, Sonia O'Sullivan, they were all pregnant just before big wins. But you don't know. I have no idea how long the hormone boost lasts.
My personal trainer, she's been reading the textbooks, she doesn't want me to do too much, she says: 'Don't overheat, don't over-stretch, blah blah blah.'
Sydney has such a cosmopolitan feel to it. The food is great and Australians are so friendly.
Sport's been an instrumental thing in my life.
As a girl, I was a member of Birchfield Harriers, who had Kathy Cook, Tessa Sanderson and Sonia Lannaman in their team. Those were some of the finest athletes in the country, so it was great to see them up close.
I do love 'Gogglebox' and I have done from the get-go.
Marriage is hard work, and it's not all romance and flowers.
My mum taught me to work hard. I was born when she was only 17 and she brought me up on her own.
One of my favorite cuisines is Italian so I love visiting Italy.
During my pregnancy I ate healthily, stayed fit and carried well.
I used to race up all the time and started cross-country from about the age of six.
I love seeing the up-and-coming athletes finding success.
When I was an athlete I never listened to music because I was constantly so engaged with my own self and body.
I keep asking myself if my joints are going to hold up.
I have moved on now from athletics, but it was difficult initially after I retired.
I love food so I tend to remember places by the food I've enjoyed there.
It sounds precocious, but I knew that I had to listen to my own inner voice and ignore what everyone else was saying, even my mum.
Obviously it is well documented that I didn't love the 800m when I started out. But I, er, learnt to appreciate it.
You can't complain about Sir Steve or Jill Halfpenny in 'Strictly Come Dancing.' But Michael Owen in 1998, that really does bother me.
My mum is a perfect example of agelessness.
I love 'I'm A Celebrity...' and those kinds of things. But sometimes I find reality stuff a bit distasteful.
Being a new mum at whatever age is testing and I think I've forgotten what it feels like.
As an only child you don't have many people to play with, and mum was strict about not mixing with kids on the street, so I played by myself.
I really wasn't well - feeling feverish then cold - so I went to the doctor to find out if I had flu and they did a blood test. I thought: 'Okay, this is it. I'm pre-menopausal.' Then Steve said: 'Are you sure you're not pregnant?'
When I was running as an athlete, I'd be looking at my heart rate, monitoring when it started to peak, when it plateaued. I'd make a note of the oxygen debt in my body and would always be working to a specific time.
I didn't exercise like crazy, but I was in the gym.
I never knew my father.
In heptathlon, if one day goes extremely well, you've got to go to bed and start the next one completely fresh - lose what you did yesterday.
I have this one room - it has a TV, a sofa, some candles. I close the door, sit down and lose myself.
Growing up in a terraced house in Wolverhampton, just me and my mum, I don't know where I got my love of sport from.
That's the British press. Can you tell me one successful sportsperson that doesn't get slammed?
I was injured in the early part of 2000 and spent 10 weeks barely able to walk.