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When you reach that elite level, 90% is mental and 10% is physical. You are competing against yourself. Not against the other athlete. Dick Fosbury
I’m like a beast. I just take it out on the track. Yohan Blake
I wouldn’t swap the era I competed in for anything, not a day of it. I started out as an amateur, and people like myself, Seb Coe, Steve Ovett, Steve Cram, Tessa Sanderson and the rest did it for the glory of winning medals for our country. Daley Thompson
Even now I want to keep my amateur spirit, to spend my time, to be in the sport with all my heart. Sergei Bubka
That's the fastest time ever run – but it’s not as fast as the world record. David Coleman, BBC commentator
He won the bronze medal in the 1976 Olympics, so he’s used to being out in front. David Coleman
Linford Christie’s got a habit of pulling it out when it matters most. David Coleman
He’s even smaller in real life than he is on the track. David Coleman
The big Cuban opened his legs and showed his class. David Coleman
David knew about athletics. Partly because he’d been an athlete himself. The Quite Remarkable David Coleman, BBC 2011
I just blew my mind and blew the world’s mind. Usain Bolt
If you’re the fastest man in the world, what’s there to worry about? Usain Bolt
Athletics is a luxury. Roger Bannister
I didn’t get an athletics scholarship at a major school. Edwin Moses
I don’t really see the hurdles, I sense them like a memory. Edwin Moses, attributed
We want to promote the great qualities of athletics – and maintain its integrity – all over the world. Alberto Juantorena
One of the great lessons I’ve learned in athletics is that you’ve got to discipline your life. No matter how good you may be, you’ve got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep you from going to the top. Bob Richards
To me we must learn to spell the word Respect. We must respect the rights and properties of our fellow countrymen. And then learn to play the game of life, as well as the game of athletics, according to the rules of society. Jesse Owens
I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up. Jesse Owens
As a child Jesse Owens raced other kids form his Cleveland neighbourhood on city sidewalks. He was the youngest of ten children. Jesse Owens, PBS 2012
Joseph Goebbels planned to use the Games to the Nazis’ advantage. ibid.
As a movement for a boycott grew, the NAACP convinced Owens to take a public stand. ibid.
Thousands of German fans knew they were witnessing something extraordinary. ibid.
By the fourth day of the Games Goebbels was enraged. ibid.
The team’s only two Jewish sprinters ... would be replaced by Owens and Metcalf. ibid.
He was far from triumphant. ibid.
The lucrative offers that had poured into Berlin turned out to be empty promises. ibid.
This was year zero. A new dawn. Faster than we thought probably, in a way we thought impossible. Michael Johnson, Usain Bolt: The Fastest Man Who Has Ever Lived
It wasn’t just the time, more the way he did it. The fastest man who has ever lived was unlike anything we had seen before. ibid.
At the Berlin Olympic Games my hero the great Jessie Owens ran a time of 10.2 seconds. A world record that would stand for over twenty years. ibid. Bolt
Usain Bolt was breaking the 100 metre world record as and when he decided. ibid.
Ever since two devastating performances in the 2008 Olympics, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has dominated the sport of Track and Field. He has destroyed the spring events. Smashing world records. And making the impossible look routine. Sporting Greats – Usain Bolt
His impact on the sport is immeasurable. ibid.
Bolt immediately impressed in the Boys and Girls National Championships. ibid.
At the age of fifteen Bolt was already the best 200m runner in the world. ibid.
By 2007 Bolt was fully grown, injury free and winning races. ibid.
A run of 9.72 in June 2008. ibid.
2008: 9.69 seconds ... The fastest man on the planet. ibid.
200m: 19.30s. ibid.
9.58 seconds. ibid.
19.19 seconds. ibid.
Utterly dominating his sport for years, collecting multiple Olympic and World Championship golds, setting thirty-five world records. Sporting Greats – Sergey Bubka
That day came in 1983 at the inaugural world championships. ibid.
In 1988 in Seoul, Bubka would get his Olympic chance. ibid.
For twenty years Heike Drechsler was at the very top. She exploded on to the scene at just eighteen years old and beat the best in the world. Her successes came in multiple events defeating generations of rivals and challengers. Sporting Greats – Heike Drechsler
Heike Drechsler battled prejudice and suspicion to emerge as a shining symbol of German unity. ibid.
Long Jump: 7.27m. ibid.
1986 European Championships in Stuttgart: 21.71. ibid.
v Jackie Joyner-Kersee: one of Athletics’ most enduring rivalries. ibid.
v Flo Jo: 21.33. ibid.
World Championships long jump and heptathlon. ibid.
At 39 Heike Drechsler retired from athletics. ibid.
Multiple long jump and sprint world records. ibid.
In Track & Field the gap between good and great can come down to a few hundredths of a second ... Few athletes have possessed these qualities more than Carl Lewis. With his unique combination of talent and personality he redefined his sport. Sporting Greats – Carl Lewis
In 1982 he broke through becoming the world’s best long jumper and a real force in the 100m. ibid.
1983 World Championships ... Gold in three events ... Carl Lewis was now the biggest star in the sport of Track & Field. ibid.
Los Angeles 1984: 4 Olympic gold medals. ibid.
1987 World Championships ... Ben Johnson ... The first major sprint title Lewis had lost. ibid.