Olympic Games Quotes and Motivational Quotes

Olympic Games Quotes

Here are some quotes by Olympic athletes.
"I was not talented enough to run and smile at the same time"
Emil Zatopek, champion Czechoslovakian distance runner, when asked about unusual facial expression when running.

"The swimming and diving were held in part of the old moat ... it was the clammiest, darkest place and the water was frigid. It looked bootomless and black"
Alice Landon, American Diver, on facilities at the Antwerp Games of 1920

"One shouldn't be afraid to lose; this is sport. One day you win; another day you lose. Of course, everyone wants to be the best. This is normal. This is what sport is about. This is why I love it."
- Oksana Baiul, Olympic Gold Medalist

"All I've done is run fast. I don't see why people should make much fuss about that"
Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won four gold medals at the 1948 Games
"To anyone who has started out on a long campaign believing that the gold medal was destined for him, the feeling when, all of a sudden, the medal has gone somewhere else is quite indescribable."
Sebastian Coe, after losing the 800m final in 1980.


Starting Out Quotes

These quotes are about getting the motivation to get up and have a go. I hope you find some motivation in them.
To begin, begin.
- Peter Nivio Zarlenga

A good beginning makes a good end.
- English Proverb

Begin -- to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.
- Decimus Magnus Ausonius

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.
- William James

Bad excuses are worse than none.
- Thomas Fuller

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
- Jim Ryun

What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple. Whether you are willing to do it, that's another matter.
- Peter F. Drucker

Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.
- George Herman "Babe" Ruth

You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.
- Unknown

Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.
- William B. Sprague

Perseverance is failing 9 times and succeeding the 10th.
- J. Andrews

Who bravely dares must sometimes risk a fall.
- Tobias George Smollett

Success is never final and failure never fatal. It's courage that counts.
- George F. Tilton


Motivational Quotes
This collection of quotes are about pushing through the hard times, to keep you going when the going gets tough. I hope you find some motivation in them.
You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out, but you gotta suit up for them all.
- J. Askenberg

You've got to take the initiative and play your game. In a decisive set, confidence is the difference.
- Chris Evert

"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
- Beverly Sills

"If you don't have confidence, you'll always find a way not to win."
- Carl Lewis

"You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone."
- Percy Cerutty

"It is only through work and strife that either nation or individual moves on to greatness. The great man is always the man of mighty effort, and usually the man whom grinding need has trained to mighty effort."
- Theodore Roosevelt, in a speech about Grant, delivered at Galena, Illinois, April 27, 1900

"The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt."
- Max Lerner

"Spirit ... has fifty times the strength and staying power of brawn and muscle."
- Unknown

"Continuous effort -- not strength or intelligence -- is the key to unlocking our potential."
- Liane Cardes

"If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat."
- Herschel Walker

"Train, don't strain."
- Arthur Lydiard

"Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that's cool too."
- Pat Tyson


"You would fain be victor at the Olympic games, you say. Yes, but weigh the conditions, weigh the consequences; then and then only, lay to your hand-if it be for your profit. You must live by rule, submit to diet, abstain from dainty meats, exercise your body perforce at stated hours, in heat or in cold; drink no cold water, nor, it may be, wine. In a word, you must surrender yourself wholly to your trainer, as though to a physician."
- Epictetus, (c.A.D. 50-c.A.D. 138)

"Just remember this: No one ever won the olive wreath with an impressive training diary."
- Marty Liquori

"The more I talk to athletes, the more convinced I become that the method of training is relatively unimportant. There are many ways to the top, and the training method you choose is just the one that suits you best. No, the important thing is the attitude of the athlete, the desire to get to the top."
- Herb Elliott

"Restlessness is discontent - and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man - and I will show you a failure."
- Thomas Alva Edison

"The five S's of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit."
- Ken Doherty

"My jump was imperfect, my run-in was too short and my hands were too far back at takeoff. When I manage to iron out these faults, I am sure I can improve."
- Sergei Bubka (first pole vaulter to clear 20 feet
)
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese proverb

Only those who risk going to far can possibly find out how far one can go.
- T.S. Eliot

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.
- Andre Gide

Inspiration cannot be willed, though it can be wooed.
- Anthony Storr

Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.
- Henry J. Kaiser

Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible.
- Frank L. Gaines

Nothing will work unless you do.
- John Wooden

Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.
- Jack Canfield

The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination.
- Tommy Lasorda