I was an average student, who took active interest in athletics.

My dad was very critical and had very high expectations without a lot of the details filled in. It was, 'I expect you to achieve greatness in grades, in athletics, in whatever you do.'

At 12, I was, like, 6-2. At 13, I was, like, 6-5 or 6-6. I had always stuck out as a bit of a freak, so athletics gave me a chance to make friends and, I guess, find my 'cool' vibe, if there's such a thing when you're in high school.

Athletics provided a life preserver for me, and that maybe kept me out of trouble. I never partied in high school. I mostly just dated.

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.

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.

I think when you are the parents of a gifted athlete, the best thing in the world you can do is to encourage them, in my opinion. My dad didn't push me and I didn't push my children in athletics.

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.

I'm thankful that my career at Oklahoma was marked with consistent leadership in president David Boren and director of athletics Joe Castiglione.

I've always been a great fan of the state of Pennsylvania. One of the people - one of the people that I admired the most in college athletics was Joe Paterno.

Athletics are not my wheelhouse because sports were mean to this uncoordinated kid growing up, a 6-foot-2 14-year-old who never could do a layup.

I was in high school - and I went to an all-boys Catholic high school, a Jesuit high school, where I was focused on academics and athletics, going to church every Sunday at Little Flower, working on my service projects, and friendship, friendship with my fellow classmates and friendship with girls from the local all-girls Catholic schools.

One of the cool things about amateur athletics is that, I think, the pursuit is sort of the pursuit of excellence for nothing more than trying to be excellent.

Number one in high school, when I was sort of entrenched in the street life, if you will, the major thing that kept me plugged in the mainstream was athletics. I played basketball throughout high school. I also played football, but I played basketball throughout high school.

Athletics is athletics. When you do sport, you are gambling. You run, you win, you lose. It doesn't matter if you are competing or you are not competing.

I am of the firm view that there is no impediment to me competing in athletics competitions.

I could never give up athletics. Running is what I will always do. Even if, maybe, the authorities could have stopped me from running in 2009, they could not have stopped me in the fields. I would have carried on with my running; it doesn't matter. When I run I feel free, my mind is free.

I don't have rights. Let's put it this way: in athletics, I don't have rights.

I think sports has done a disservice for a lot of black kids thinking they can only be successful through athletics and entertainment. I want them to know they can be doctors, lawyers, teachers, fireman, police officers, etc.

The institutions of college athletics exist primarily as unreality fueled by deceit. The unreality is that universities should be in the business of providing large spectacles of mass entertainment. The fundamental absurdity of that notion requires the promulgation of the various deceits necessary to carry it out.

The way I look at it, competing at a high level, whether that's business, art or film, athletics, anything you do, there's a certain way to go about it.

Writing is a little athletic for me. I get worked up a little bit when I do it. So I guess I'm a little bit like that composer conducting. There are a lot of things that go into what I do, but I think athletics really sort of shaped my ethic.

Athletics carries its own set of truths, and those truths are diminished when manipulated by people with agendas.

I was always hugely into sport before I started boxing. I played rugby, football, cricket, athletics, swimming.

In England I played everything - swimming, athletics, football, rugby, badminton, cricket - all of that stuff. I was in the first teams for all the sports at Brighton, played on the wing in rugby, and ran 100m, 200m, 400m, and did long jump and even the javelin at one point. In the States I did a bit of track, but mainly I was there for the boxing.

Athletics and physical activity are important parts of youth development, in my experience and view.

At cricket, I was mainly a bowler and tried to bat. I hit the odd four or six and then got out! In athletics, I was mainly triple jump and 200m.

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 find that the three major administrative problems on a campus are sex for the students, athletics for the alumni and parking for the faculty.

I was in the doldrums for a while after my athletics career ended in 1992. I spent six to eight hours a day training, for 18 years, and it took a long time to get over the regret that I wasn't competing in major championships any more. All I ever wanted to be was the best. But I find new projects and I keep things in perspective.

In my heart of hearts my motivation would always have been to be the best, and I think that athletics is probably what I was built for.