I was hiding behind athletics and all my jockitude, so I didn't have to deal with being ostracized as the weird art kid.
When I was in first grade, the kids called me 'fatso.' It hurt, but the way I overcame it was to outrun every kid in the class. So I developed a thick skin, and athletics became my way of performing and being accepted.
It's clear that women athletics are pretty far behind in every way. In terms of facilities, how much we make, everything.
It wasn't popular for college athletics to embrace Title IX.
Myself, Marion Jones and Michael Johnson all got married on the same day because it was the only point on the athletics' schedule we could fit in. October 3, 1998.
If the IAAF feel that is the right way to go for TV rights and everything, the rule will stay. As much as I want to be on the podium, tonight is a sad night for athletics.
Because I just like sports, I like athletics and I like competition.
In those days I was terrible at athletics and never made a team, but quite easily led my class in academics.
I think everybody ought to be allowed to be engaged in athletics at whatever level the audience will accept.
Not a lot of people know me outside of athletics and believe it or not I am actually quite shy. The exhilaration of a win or tears after falling are the extremes. It takes me a while to get to know someone, but once I do I am very loyal to my old friends.
Athletics, for me, was something I was pushed towards. I really wanted to play football when I was younger. Over the years, I started to enjoy it more and learn about it.
I am delighted that Jason Gardener will be taking over from me as President of U.K. Athletics. With his competitive background in the sport as an Olympic champion coupled with his engaging personality and his experience as a board member of U.K. Athletics, he possesses all the qualities required to be a successful president.
There's discussion in athletics about how sport - where they say 'SportsCenter' has ruined the fundamentals of basketball because it's - it only applauds dunks and three point shots and blocks, and I think, you know, the cable news has done the same thing for politics.
The closer I get to retirement, the more I feel it will be a huge change, a shock, because athletics has been the core of my whole life. I know I'll miss the feeling of running fast, the adrenaline rush, and hearing the crowd cheering me on.
I had discipline in other areas but certainly not in athletics.
College athletics are so entrenched and enjoyed by so many people that they will never be discontinued or substantially changed. I know that. I just pity the people caught in that tender trap. And most of all, I pity those kids.
Swimming and athletics are the big gigs at the Olympic games. Cycling and rowing are pretty big for Britain, but globally, the two big things are athletics and swimming.
I've always been active: netball, hockey, rounders, athletics.
Athletics and physical activity are important parts of youth development, in my experience and view.
You have to be positive, and I'm not just talking about athletics, this also applies to life.
In athletics, the idea of possibility is presumed. It's not 'if;' it's 'how.'
When I talk to youngsters today, especially those involved in athletics, I tell them to get their education first.
Playing athletics, playing a lot of different sports, going to drama school... I was one of those kids who wanted to do everything, so I ended up being pretty average at everything.
I don't have rights. Let's put it this way: in athletics, I don't have rights.
Don't walk through life just playing football. Don't walk through life just being an athlete. Athletics will fade. Character and integrity and really making an impact on someone's life, that's the ultimate vision, that's the ultimate goal - bottom line.
It's a crazy world, so sports and athletics and music can be a form of escapism.
I swam very competitively till I was 15, then I swam for fun until I was 18. But athletics remain a very big part of my life. I try to keep that as much in balance with work as I can.
When I was in school, there was no such thing as girls' athletics.
I think we should bring up our children with much less pressure to compete and get ahead: no comparing one child with another, at home or in school; no grades. Let athletics be primarily for fun, and let them be organized by children and youths themselves.
In a budget, how important is art versus music versus athletics versus computer programming? At the end of the day, some of those trade-offs will be made politically.
I enjoy my athletics, and I want to take it as far as I can.
If you get a great wife who understands the demands of someone in athletics, I think that's important.
