Top 46 Quotes & Sayings by Famous Olympians

Our bodies crave exercise, and reward us in so many ways when we do so.

It's only game. Why you have to be mad?

Often I visualize a quicker, like almost a ghost runner, ahead of me with a quicker stride. It's really crazy. In races, this always happens to me. I see the vision of a runner ahead of me, maybe just 15, 20 meters ahead of me, and the cadence of that runner, which is actually me in the future, is a little quicker, so if I'm going (his rhythm/breathing), then my ghost runner, the vision of me, ahead of me, like opening up and just going for it, is quicker .

Running hills breaks up your rhythm and forces your muscles to adapt to new stresses. The result? You become stronger.

I have learned to not let a bad race or failure bring me down, and always walking away with something positive and learning from mistakes so I can be better or stronger next time.

The difference between being a winner and being a loser is how you pick yourself up again, especially when you're down for the third or fourth or twentieth time!

If you are ever going to achieve as much as you can in a sport, you are going to have to be willing to make a leap of faith to learn how much your body can handle.

I am going to go out a winner if I have to find a high school race to win my last race.

Good things come slow, especially in distance running.

When using the run-walk method to finish a marathon, the most important walk break comes in the first mile. The second most important one comes in the second mile, and so on. The point is, walk before you become fatigued.

OK, they fire the puck from the blue line. Chief usually yelling 'block the shot' at the defensemen. They doesn't have the goalie gear, but they have to block the shot. So who is more crazy, me or the defensemen? Who is more weird?

The most important force inside you for feeling better all the time is the will to get more fit.

We are designed to run and we increase our chance of daily happiness when we do so.

Here is the start, there is the finish line. Between that, you have to run.

We have a no puke rule. The purpose is performance, not puking.

When I finish a run, every part of me is smiling.

Being an athlete is a state of mind which is not bound by age, performance or place in the running pack.

A lifestyle change begins with a vision and a single step.

If you're laboring up a steep hill, imagine that a towrope is attached to the center of your chest, pulling you steadily toward the top.

Find a way to enjoy parts of every run. Most of your runs should be mostly enjoyable.

Runners in the western world have a tendency to create psychological barriers for themselves, but Morceli runs at will, with no inhibitions.

It's something in me, deep down, that makes me different in a race.

It's an incredible feeling, 110,000 people energy at that level. What I realized from watching the first day of competition was that athletes that got excited and happy and got the fans into it and clapping, they did better. The athletes that took it too seriously, they didn't do as well as they'd hoped.

The more you frame the marathon as a stressful experience, the more negative messages you'll receive. But it's just as easy to frame it as a positively challenging journey.

Even world class performers can benefit from walk breaks.

I think like, 'And we have some problems here on the earth we worry about? Compared to likenothing. Just be happy. Don't worry be happy right now

The marathon is a competition between your will and your possibilities

Think chest/hips/ push, or CHP, when it's time for uphill running. Chest up, hips forward, push strongly off each foot.

The label of 'marathoner' has, from the beginning, been awarded to those who went the distance under their own power, whether they ran, walked, crawled or tiptoed. When you cross that finish line, you've entered an elite group. About one-tenth of one percent of the population has done it. Don't let anyone take that great achievement away from you.

Often, I visualize a quicker, like almost a ghost runner, ahead of me with a quicker stride.

Yoga is a big part of my destressing. Even sitting on the floor for 10 minutes to center myself, stretch and relax can be a huge game changer.

I'm not afraid of anything - except bear. But bear in the forest.

Bryzgalov isn’t just a running comedy act. He’s one of the league’s most thoughtful players and the fact that he offers the insight he does in his second language is something he’ll never get enough credit for.

I am who I am. Life is too beautiful to be sad, to be depressed. The sun comes up every day and it's beautiful.

Marathon training doesn't have to be a grind. By running for about 30 minutes two times a week, and by gradually increasing the length of a third weekly run-the long run-anyone can finish a marathon.

You guys just here to blame someone. You never look yourselves in the mirror, eh? You're always good. You never make the mistakes. Your articles are always perfect. In reality, what have you done for this city? If you ask yourself, what have you done besides only criticize? Not much.

The solar system is so humongous big.

I spent the first twenty years of my running career trying to run as many miles as I could as fast as I could. Then I spent the next twenty years trying to figure out how to run the least amount of miles needed to finish a marathon. And I've come to the conclusion the second way is much more enjoyable.

Alan Webb is the best thing to happen in this event, but professionals and collegiates don't want to lose to high school guys. I don't want to lose to no one.

I'm lost in the woods right now.

Everyone has stress. A good run may not erase it, but it can reduce the effect and allow runners to gain control.

I was totally into football, totally into mainstream sports my whole life...The media has tried to categorize me, call me a hippie, call me alternative. I work hard. My social life and beliefs don't get in the way of my training.

Don't worry be happy right now.

There's an old adage that for every second too fast per mile in the first half of the race, you'll run at least 2 seconds slower at the end.

To finish will leave you feeling like a champion and positively change your life.

Most people have this perception that you have to be out there running for an hour and a half every day. But you don't have to give up your career and family to run a marathon.