Qualifying for the Olympic Games was one of those moments where you just cry because it was like you've climbed Mount Everest.
For most of the track world, the Olympic year is such a huge year, and it's a big year for us marathoners too.
Before the start of the '76 Olympics, I'd had 160 amateur fights. I won 155 and lost five.
You show up at the Olympics, and you're no longer you; you're an American Olympian. You're part of this greater whole, and the individual doesn't matter.
Obviously in 2008 it was 538 (to win an Olympic gold) and most of my scores have been over that this year.
I can't even imagine what it's like and right now I'm like in shock, I can't believe that I'm Olympic Champion.
America's first Olympics may have been its worst, or at least its most bizarre.
On the face of it, China has won the Olympics. But it is not China that has won, but the Communist party. The Chinese people have lost.
I really want to do the Olympics. Obviously, I can't let things out of the bag, so to speak.
Of course, most people remember that I received the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics competition.
The Olympics meant everything to me. Going through them is like nothing else you will ever experience. For those few weeks, you are in another world. At that point, I couldn't see how there could ever be anything better.
When I won the Golden Gloves in 1960, that made me realize I had a chance. And when I won at the Olympics, that sealed it: I was the champ.
I was ecstatic when we won - to host the Olympics is one of the biggest opportunities in living memory. It will help change the lives of young people and transform east London.
Figure skating is an unlikely Olympic event but its good television. It's sort of a combination of gymnastics and ballet. A little sexy too which doesn't hurt.
There are tons of great names who have gotten fourth at their first Olympics, and they just kept with it for the next quad. I'm among good company.
If the Palestinian Olympic Committee or Palestinian Federation provide good facilities to the athletes then maybe I can become better than these Bahraini or Qatari athletes.
Part of what Special Olympics is trying to do is break down stereotypes that still exist for people. There is still a lot of fear.
We have made drugs an Olympic event. It receives most of the coverage at the Games and even the suspicion of guilt can ruin a reputation for life.
You see the fairy tale - four minutes of glory at the Olympics. I thought my life would be cake after that.
I would love to do well one last time in Melbourne and my dream would be to win Wimbledon and play in the London Olympics.
You can be an Olympic champion in 9.5 secs, but to be the greatest, there's more to it. It takes a bit of forethought and a lot of mental application.
