Both parents supported my becoming a world class athlete.
I disagree that an athlete can’t be intelligent. Some people think that, in basketball, we have a bunch of masculine adults who don’t know how to control themselves. They’re feeble-minded and can’t engage or articulate ideas. That’s a narrative they keep trying to paint.
I strictly want to beat every opponent I face, whether it’s for a title or for a small show. The only thing for me is winning my fights and being the best athlete I can be.
I was an athlete when I was younger and played a lot of sports, including golf, but I always ended up throwing around my clubs in frustration.
Every athlete, I think, would like to play forever. They never want to acknowledge that they’ve lost a step or they can’t quite do what they did before.
Developing the muscles of the soul demands no competitive spirit, no killer instinct, although it may erect pain barriers that the spiritual athlete must crash through.
I’m tall and thin but not strong, so you’re either an athlete or you’re funny.
I’ve become more of a climber now – who still keeps that time trial as strong as ever. It gives me such self-belief. I feel a different athlete.
First of all, I really never imagined myself being a professional athlete.
Muhammad Ali is a combination of personality and athlete who is probably better known around the world than any other. He became a great hero.
I was an only child of a father who loved me deeply, but we didn’t play catch, even though I was an athlete. We didn’t go fishing or hunting or any of the things I wanted to do. Why not? He just didn’t do that.
Every athlete at his peak is going to perform with a different mental cocktail. I thrive in the underdog, reserved, it’s-not-over-till-it’s-over mindset.
I’m still an athlete, I’m still a stockbroker, I’m still an actor. I think of it as more of an opening of new doors than an actual transition. I enjoy all of those things, which is why they remain a part of my life.
Injuries are a part of the game. Every athlete knows that.
Eating right is key. Every athlete is going to train hard and lift hard and all that, so what you eat can be the difference when you want to separate yourself. As an athlete, it’s really important to put healthy foods in your body.
I have always thought of myself as an athlete – even at the ripe old age of 52.
Being a professional athlete, people respect the fact that I respect eSports professional gamers.
I was a big athlete, but I think a lot of the things I did were because they were my false identity, if you will. They got me acceptance, and they got me that attention that I craved.
As an athlete, I’ve always been very proud to represent the United States.
I don’t really take into account what the media says. People have their own opinions about what goes on, but they don’t see what goes on behind the scenes with an athlete and their preparation.
The greatest feeling of accomplishment for me is the fact that I was an athlete who was somewhat disabled.
Some of the occurrences leading up to and immediately following the Berlin World Championships have infringed not only my rights as an athlete but also my fundamental and human rights, including my rights to dignity and privacy.
I don’t know about politics so much. I’m a professional athlete.
Growing up in Harlem, I had the chance to practice with a Negro League team. At fifteen, I was over six feet tall and a fair athlete, but my skills didn’t come close to some of the players I saw.
When you’re an athlete and you play every day and are conditioning yourself every year, the aging is gradual.
With wrestling, we’re still athletes. I train like we’re an athlete as opposed to a body builder. Some people still have that body-builder mentality. But not from me. I do a lot of agility work and stuff like that.
I’m an athlete; I’ve got an ego when stunt doubles have to come in. Not an ego like that, but when it comes to physical stuff, if I didn’t have to have a stunt double, I would always probably do it myself unless the producers were jumping in and stopping me.
When I was a junior and an up-and-coming athlete, I don’t think I looked to anyone for inspiration. I was so busy trying to improve myself and learning these new events and learning about the decathlon in general that I didn’t really have time to focus on anyone else.
In my Olympic history I don’t think I have achieved my potential as an athlete. That’s what I want when I look back at my career. I want to be able to say I gave it my best shot.
If you’re a professional athlete, and after the game, you’re eating at the same place that somebody in the audience is eating at? You’re making a mistake.
Being on TV is similar to being an athlete. You get no second chances.
I know a lot of people say, ‘You’re an athlete or actor… and you shouldn’t speak up.’ I think that makes no sense. No matter who you are, no matter what you do in the country, you’re a part of our democracy, and if you have a voice, you need to use it.
As an actor, you have to maximize your time, because you don’t know what’s going to happen in your 50s and 60s and 70s. It’s like the career of an athlete: For many people, it ends at a certain point.
If you can miss getting up in the morning and running into a wall, I miss playing football. I’ll never be a frustrated athlete.
As an athlete, you’d better laugh at yourself when you slip in the mud.
I am used to training 10 to 12 sessions a week, so I have the physical and mental endurance that comes with being an athlete.
I’m a go-hard type. It’s in my DNA. I physically prepare my body as if I’m a trained athlete. After the shows, I sit in an ice tub and do a hot dip, cold dip, and sometimes I sit in a hyperbaric chamber to rejuvenate my energy.
I grew up as an athlete doing judo, so I didn’t really have a conventional, feminine body type.
I think I’m an athlete who’s trained as an actor, and when you smash it all together, you get whatever Omari is doing as a performer right now.
I was always blessed growing up with opportunities and access to facilities, equipment, and playing with my brothers in the backyard to be the best athlete I could be.
I didn’t want to be a dancer. I just did it to work my way through college. But I was always an athlete and gymnast, so it came naturally.
Being an athlete, you try to get protein.
It is very dangerous to have your self-worth riding on your results as an athlete.
I was always more of an athlete. I like to compete.
Every athlete acquires routines as a way to help control nerves.
There were only 170 neurologists in Britain then and, whether spoken or unspoken, there was this insidious feeling. How can Bannister, a mere athlete, probably spoilt by all the publicity and fame, dare aspire to neurology? But I’d done a lot of research, and my academic record was very good.
I was always a good athlete. I just gave up on football.
It’s in my blood to be an athlete, to be a hockey player.
Things have changed so much, with Facebook and Twitter. Everyone is so much more accessible these days: no British athlete has ever experienced what we are experiencing now. It’s such a unique situation with the home Olympics.
The CrossFit program is broad, general and inclusive, and most of all, the movements can be scaled down to any level of athlete. Just watch what I do with it on ‘The Biggest Loser.’
I think I’ve gotten more attention after the Olympics than any other U.S. athlete, and it’s really great that people are recognizing who I am and what I do. You look at Shaq and you see a basketball player. You look at Tiger Woods and you see a golfer. But people are responding to who I am.
Getting released in 2014 was the best thing that happened to me because I got to regain my focus, regain my pride, and come back as the best-conditioned athlete there is in WWE, which ultimately led me to become the single greatest WWE champion.
My dad was a great athlete growing up, and he could never fulfill his dreams of playing professional baseball.
You know raising a family in the lifestyle of a professional athlete can be very difficult.
In the marathon a crazy athlete can just keep pushing from the beginning, at a championship you don’t need a time just to win the race.
Growing up as an athlete, I started skating very young. My parents didn’t know anything about the sport, so they went with the flow. I had two great coaches who gave great advice and gave guidelines for my parents. My parents let the coaches dictate what was going on on the ice.
To me, breakfast is my most important meal. It’s often the meal you play a game on. I make sure I have oatmeal, milk, and fruit. It’s the fuel you use to hopefully do your best, so eating right is a big part of being a professional athlete. I wish I paid more attention to it earlier in my life.
I’m not your average athlete. I’m good at other things. I’m not just a basketball player. I’m multi-talented.
There is such a rich sporting culture in Western Sydney, one that nurtured my sporting aspirations. Having Penrith Whitewater Stadium right at my doorstep was such an amazing advantage. It was a springboard to my success as an athlete, and I feel really fortunate to have grown up in this part of the world.
