Quotes and Sayings about Athletes
"I want to be like the athletes who seem stuck in time. When you see them at 50, you say they probably can still run like a champ."
- Tyra Banks
(Related: Time, Athletes, Want)
"That's the hard part about sport: as men we haven't started to be in our prime, but as athletes we are old people. I needed support. I lost trust and did stupid things."
- Boris Becker
(Related: Men, Trust, People, Athletes, Old, Support)
"I mean, the greatest athletes in the world are African-American."
- Larry Bird
(Related: African, Athletes, World)
"In this culture, where entertainers and athletes wield such power, it seems only right to me that they try to make their influence a good one."
- Pat Boone
(Related: Power, Athletes, Culture, Influence, Right)
"So you had to rev your engines, to beat the Russians and I think more than anything, if the Soviet team would win, or the Soviet athletes would win, you would see and hear and read about that. Quite frequently. So they would make a big issue of it."
- Ralph Boston
(Related: Athletes)
"Sports is a metaphor for overcoming obstacles and achieving against great odds. Athletes, in times of difficulty, can be important role models."
- Bill Bradley
(Related: Sports, Athletes, Difficulty, Metaphor, Obstacles, Overcoming)
"I love watching a good horse do what he's bred to do - I guess that's what I like the most about it. And I love to see good athletes do what they're bred to do."
- Wilford Brimley
(Related: Love, Athletes)
"I have spoken with many former athletes, and they tell me the best time they had was in sports. I listen to them and use their experience in my career."
- Sergei Bubka
(Related: Experience, Time, Sports, Athletes, Career)
"The bottom line is that these athletes tend to be safer investments because they really value their marketing opportunities. They don't make as much money as during their active careers."
- Dick Butkus
(Related: Money, Athletes, Careers, Marketing, Value)
"Dance is certainly a sport, and they are phenomenal athletes, and they're also artists."
- Neve Campbell
(Related: Dance, Artists, Athletes)
"One of the perks of being an actor is to get to meet athletes that you respect. Especially who played before my time. Brooks Robinson is one of those athletes; they just don't make them any nicer."
- Josh Charles
(Related: Time, Actor, Athletes, Being, Brooks, Respect)
"I don't think there are really enough meetings in Britain for our athletes to compete properly, and because of this a lot of the talent we have has been stunted."
- Linford Christie
(Related: Talent, Athletes, Meetings)
"I have got better things to do in working with my athletes who I feel are going to be involved in 2012."
- Linford Christie
(Related: Athletes)
"I think the athletes respond well to me because I have been successful."
- Linford Christie
(Related: Successful, Athletes)
"Some of today's athletes do not have that kind of pride. They left school at 16, have never had a job in their life and are getting Lottery funding, earning money as an athlete."
- Linford Christie
(Related: Life, Money, Athletes, Job, Pride, School, Today)
"We have got to go out there and deliver, go on the streets and find athletes, improve facilities around the country and find coaches. We have got to go out there and search for a star."
- Linford Christie
(Related: Athletes, Coaches, Country)
"For centuries, New York has served as the gateway for millions of people from all over the world in search of the American dream. It only makes sense that it would now serve as a gateway for the world's greatest athletes."
- Hillary Clinton
(Related: People, Dream, American, Athletes, Now, Sense, World)
"The London Games will be designed for the athletes and we will provide them with the very best venues and the very best conditions to pursue their sporting dreams in London."
- Sebastian Coe
(Related: Dreams, Athletes, Games, London, Will)
"The night before I compete, I like to have steak. Meat is especially important for female athletes because it provides them with the nutrients they need to perform at their best."
- Sasha Cohen
(Related: Athletes, Night)
"I wish I had said 'some athletes here are competing unfairly.' It was my opinion, never an accusation."
- Bob Costas
(Related: Athletes, Opinion)
"Someone who wants to write should make an effort to write a little something every day. Writing in this sense is the same as athletes who practice a sport every day to keep their skills honed."
- Anita Desai
(Related: Athletes, Day, Effort, Practice, Sense, Writing)
"I worry when athletes are simply used by their universities to produce revenue, to make money for them, nothing to show at the back end. I grew up with a lot of players who had very, very tough lives after the ball started bouncing for them. And that's why I'm going to continue to fight."
- Arnie Duncan
(Related: Money, Athletes, End, Fight, Nothing, Worry)
"Training of female athletes is so new that the limits of female possibility are still unknown."
- Katherine Dunn
(Related: Possibility, Athletes, Limits, Training)
"Everywhere you look these days you see Carolina athletes."
- Lorrie Fair
(Related: Athletes)
"I think there is a special bond between Carolina athletes. A lot of people seem to wear our gear because it is fashionable. They love the colors. It's Michael Jordan's school!"
- Lorrie Fair
(Related: Love, People, Athletes, Colors)
"I think exercise tests us in so many ways, our skills, our hearts, our ability to bounce back after setbacks. This is the inner beauty of sports and competition, and it can serve us all well as adult athletes."
- Peggy Fleming
(Related: Beauty, Sports, Ability, Athletes, Competition, Exercise, Tests)
"It strikes me that these days, clubs don't even want players who can truly play any more; they just want athletes, quick guys who don't have a football brain, can just run and run; some of them, Jesus. I can never imagine acting like that."
- Robbie Fowler
(Related: Acting, Athletes, Football, Play, Quick, Want)
"Universities exist to transmit knowledge and understanding of ideas and values to students not to provide entertainment for spectators or employment for athletes."
- Milton Friedman
(Related: Knowledge, Ideas, Values, Athletes, Entertainment, Students, Understanding)
"Since I achieved something, running has exploded in my country. For me sometimes it is difficult even to know who the athletes are who are competing at the highest level. There are thousands."
- Haile Gebrselassie
(Related: Athletes, Country, Running)
"Among the world elite there are a handful of athletes who are physically capable of winning it."
- Maurice Greene
(Related: Winning, Athletes, World)
"I am thrilled yet overwhelmed. There are so many great women athletes, some incredible performances."
- Nancy Greene
(Related: Women, Athletes)
"There's that initial reticence for some athletes to take you seriously."
- Lisa Guerrero
(Related: Athletes)
"I was so afraid that the athletes wouldn't talk to me because I'm a woman."
- Lisa Guerrero
(Related: Athletes, Talk, Woman)
"The only reason we make good role models is because you guys look up to athletes and we can influence you in positive ways. But the real role models should be your parents and teachers!"
- Dante Hall
(Related: Positive, Athletes, Influence, Parents, Reason)
"In general, I enjoy athletes who have a strong character who let their abilities speak for themselves."
- Eric Heiden
(Related: Character, Athletes)
"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."
- Eric Heiden
(Related: Work, Athletes, Baseball, Golf)
"That's one of the reasons I moved to Florida. Of course, the main reason is the weather and the training. But there's more jealousy in Switzerland because it's so little and they don't have so many athletes."
- Martina Hingis
(Related: Athletes, Jealousy, Reason, Training, Weather)
"I firmly believe that all human beings have access to extraordinary energies and powers. Judging from accounts of mystical experience, heightened creativity, or exceptional performance by athletes and artists, we harbor a greater life than we know."
- Jean Houston
(Related: Life, Experience, Creativity, Performance, Artists, Athletes)
"American professional athletes are bilingual; they speak English and profanity."
- Gordie Howe
(Related: American, Athletes, English, Profanity)
"I have a hard time believing athletes are overpriced. If an owner is losing money, give it up. It's a business. I have trouble figuring out why owners would stay in if they're losing money."
- Reggie Jackson
(Related: Money, Time, Business, Athletes, Losing, Trouble)
"As athletes, we're used to reacting quickly. Here, it's 'come, stop, come, stop.' There's a lot of downtime. That's the toughest part of the day."
- Michael Jordan
(Related: Athletes, Day)
"We want to make sure our athletes have a future once their athletics careers are over."
- Alberto Juantorena
(Related: Athletes, Careers, Future, Want)
"We do not use managers, we are the representatives of our athletes, and that is why I am deeply involved in athletics, I follow our athletes careers from start to finish, 100% all the way."
- Alberto Juantorena
(Related: Athletes, Careers, Managers)
"If we carry on filling up the calendar, we keep on pushing the athlete, we shorten the athletes longevity. The risk is to shorten a career that could have lasted 10 years because the athlete is burnt out."
- Alberto Juantorena
(Related: Athletes, Career, Longevity, Risk, Years)
"I am always fighting inside the Council to get the message across that at each competition venue, we should send somebody to inspect and to make sure the athletes will be looked after in a correct manner."
- Alberto Juantorena
(Related: Athletes, Competition, Fighting, Will)
"In the seventies we had to make it acceptable for people to accept girls and women as athletes. We had to make it okay for them to be active. Those were much scarier times for females in sports."
- Billie Jean King
(Related: Sports, Women, People, Athletes, Girls)
"When we reach the point where the women athletes are getting their pick of dates just as easily as the men athletes, then we've really and truly arrived. Parity at last!"
- Billie Jean King
(Related: Men, Women, Athletes)
"Food fighters in Japan think of themselves as athletes. They have a higher recognition of the game and are constantly thinking about records. I probably won't continue for long because it puts pressure on the body. But I am at the age where I can perform my best."
- Takeru Kobayashi
(Related: Age, Food, Athletes, Body, Pressure, Thinking)
"I always liked serve-and-volley players and big athletes."
- Richard Krajicek
(Related: Athletes)
"They thought that athletes that worked out with my system wouldn't be able to throw a ball because they'd be too muscle bound. Those are the misconceptions I had to go through for about 40 years."
- Jack LaLanne
(Related: Thought, Athletes, Years)
"Athletes who take to the classroom naturally or are encouraged to focus on grades should be able to do well in the classroom. I believe the reason you go to college is to get your degree. It's not a minor league or an audition for the pros."
- Rebecca Lobo
(Related: Athletes, Classroom, College, Focus, Reason)
"No one will burn out doing aerobic running. It is too much anaerobic running, which the American scholastic athletic system tends to put young athletes through, that burns them out."
- Arthur Lydiard
(Related: American, Athletes, Running, Will)
"Young people and Indian people need to know that we existed in the 20th Century. We need to know who our heroes are and to know what we have done and accomplished in this century other than what Olympic athletes Jim Thorpe and Billy Mills have done."
- Russell Means
(Related: People, Athletes, Heroes)
"I feel sorry sometimes for these sportsmen and women who put in just as much effort as the footballers. For example, athletes train at least as hard as footballers but have to be happy if they can earn enough to finance a decent education."
- Angela Merkel
(Related: Education, Finance, Women, Athletes, Effort, Example)
"We typically don't choose our athletes until about a month prior to the Games because anything can happen."
- Shannon Miller
(Related: Athletes, Games)
"I had a great interest in sports. I had three older brothers who were great athletes. I was not."
- George J. Mitchell
(Related: Sports, Athletes, Brothers, Interest)
"It was the baseball fantasy of a lifetime - to be able to sit on the bench with all those professional athletes. I got to take my son along because I wasn't sure I would be able to play with them."
- Matthew Modine
(Related: Son, Athletes, Baseball, Fantasy, Play)
"My concentration level blocks out everything. Concentration is why some athletes are better than others. You develop that concentration in training and concentrate in a meet."
- Edwin Moses
(Related: Athletes, Training)
"They see themselves as athletes and only athletes."
- John Murray
(Related: Athletes)
"I long for the days when athletes were revered. I want to see the romance return to sports, to see people enjoy the game purely for the game and the players."
- Mike Piazza
(Related: Sports, Romance, People, Athletes, Want)
"Without a doubt, professional boxers are the most exploited athletes in our Nation."
- Charles W. Pickering
(Related: Athletes, Doubt, Nation)
"Today, many fans are saddened and upset by the lack of integrity they see in professional boxing that has significantly weakened the sport - the most deplorable problem of which is the treatment of the sport's athletes."
- Charles W. Pickering
(Related: Athletes, Boxing, Fans, Integrity, Today, Treatment)
"Many athletes competing in Atlanta wouldn't be here if it weren't for corporate support."
- Mary Lou Retton
(Related: Athletes, Corporate, Support)
"Having a home away from the media glare is important to world-class athletes."
- Mary Lou Retton
(Related: Home, Athletes, Media, World)
"Getting to know athletes from all over the planet is a big part of the Olympic experience."
- Mary Lou Retton
(Related: Experience, Athletes)
"For athletes, the Olympics are the ultimate test of their worth."
- Mary Lou Retton
(Related: Athletes, Worth)
"The contracts are structured different than athletes in America, but for me, it was good to move on and go back to playing in the premiere league, which is the best league. It was disappointing, as far as the team goes, but for me, there wasn't much I could do."
- Claudio Reyna
(Related: America, Athletes)
"My guess is many top athletes, distance runners included, use performance-enhancing drugs, enough so that the problem must be tackled."
- Bill Rodgers
(Related: Performance, Athletes, Drugs)
"I think marriage and athletes is a bad combination."
- Dennis Rodman
(Related: Marriage, Athletes)
"I want to express my deepest apology to the athletes, the people of Salt Lake City in Utah and the millions of citizens worldwide who love and respect the games."
- Juan Antonio Samaranch
(Related: Love, People, Apology, Athletes, Games, Respect, Want)
"Athletes know kids look up to them, and it's important for athletes to be responsible."
- Deion Sanders
(Related: Athletes, Kids)
"Athletes as role models and heroes is a hoax, a sick hoax. The men and women who are fighting in Iraq, they are the true heroes."
- Gale Sayers
(Related: Men, Women, Athletes, Fighting, Heroes, Iraq)
"We feel very honored to have been offered the responsibility to host this great event, Berlin is a wonderful city that is developing at a tremendous rate, and this decision means that we can now prepare to welcome the world's best athletes to a fascinating place."
- Otto Schily
(Related: Decision, Athletes, Now, Responsibility, World)
"Everything about the Olympics was first class, and women were treated as athletes and equals."
- Elizabeth Robinson Schwartz
(Related: Women, Athletes, Class, First)
"I know a lot of athletes and models are written off as just bodies. I never felt used for my body."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
(Related: Athletes, Body)
"Several professional athletes have wrongly taught many young Americans by example that the only way to succeed in sports is to take steroids."
- Jim Sensenbrenner
(Related: Sports, Americans, Athletes, Example, Succeed)
"These days the temptation to use steroids in sports has become too great for many young athletes."
- Jim Sensenbrenner
(Related: Sports, Athletes, Temptation)
"It is essential that we put an end to steroid abuse and set a better example for aspiring young athletes to follow, so that some day, when they make it in the All Star Game, it will be because of their own natural talents, and not because of a performance enhancing product."
- Jim Sensenbrenner
(Related: Performance, Abuse, Athletes, Day, End, Example, Will)
"A White House dinner is the American family assembled, from labor leaders to billionaires, actors, architects, academicians and athletes."
- Hugh Sidey
(Related: Family, Actors, American, Athletes, Labor, Leaders)
"Reporters often forget that athletes are human beings."
- Willie Stargell
(Related: Athletes, Forget)
"I've witnessed thousands of superior athletes try to becomes hitters and fail at it."
- Willie Stargell
(Related: Athletes)
"In reality, we can prove that the incidents of drug, alcohol abuse and violence have dropped dramatically among professional athletes - but the problem is it would be impossible to convince than fans, because of what they read on the AP wire."
- Leigh Steinberg
(Related: Abuse, Alcohol, Athletes, Fans, Reality, Violence)
"Cameron was able to get an inside look at professional football from the standpoint of athletes and agents and general managers that few people have ever seen."
- Leigh Steinberg
(Related: People, Athletes, Football, Managers)
"But as much as I am personally proud for winning five championships, I'm equally proud just being part of a women's division that has gotten so much better with all these great athletes here."
- Trish Stratus
(Related: Women, Winning, Athletes, Being)
"Clean living is the cardinal principle in the lives of the world's greatest athletes, as the phenomenal performances of these outstanding characters will obviously show."
- Major Taylor
(Related: Athletes, Living, Will, World)
"The type of athletes we draft still need types of versatility on the defense side of the ball, run the offense. You should still be concerned on the offense side of the ball."
- Isaiah Thomas
(Related: Athletes, Defense, Draft)
"I have read many studies out of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and they demonstrated that Vitamin E, Co-Q-10, and Fish Oil could protect the immune system of athletes and prevent disease."
- Bill Toomey
(Related: Athletes, Disease, Fish, Oil)
"Too many athletes do not admit their weaknesses."
- Bill Toomey
(Related: Athletes)
"Too many athletes don't have the ability to set a goal and then carefully go towards it."
- Bill Toomey
(Related: Goal, Ability, Athletes)
"Nutrition is also a valuable component that can help athletes both protect themselves and improve performance."
- Bill Toomey
(Related: Performance, Athletes, Help)
"This is America's Team and we are confident this outstanding group of athletes will make our country proud."
- Peter Ueberroth
(Related: America, Athletes, Country, Will)
"To be candid with you, free agency hurts all sports. It's great for athletes making an enormous amount of money. But to say it helps the sports, I don't believe that."
- Jerry West
(Related: Money, Sports, Athletes)
"Entertainers, athletes, and stars started giving me support."
- Ryan White
(Related: Athletes, Giving, Stars, Support)
"I do not think athletes should get a free pass. I don't think we should train our children and future athletes to believe that they are above the law and morality."
- Armstrong Williams
(Related: Morality, Athletes, Children, Future, Law)
"That is what great athletes can do: they give us a model of striving for human perfection."
- Armstrong Williams
(Related: Athletes, Perfection)