Just because I have two world records, everyone assumes that means automatically it is two guaranteed gold medals, but it isn't like that, and anything can happen in a race.
Adam Peaty
I remember my mom let me stay up late and watch Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan compete in the 1998 Olympic Games. I made paper medals and wore them the whole night. I didn't start skating until 2000, but I was so inspired by their skating that it was why I wanted to start.
Adam Rippon
My earliest memory of the Olympics was watching the 1996 Games in Atlanta. I remember everyone being so excited to watch. Seeing the American athletes on the podium, I saw myself. I knew that that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be one of those athletes on the podium representing their country and bringing home medals.
The dynamic has really changed in the U.S. Americans believe they can be competitive, that they can win medals.
Alberto Salazar
In para-cycling I am a veteran with Olympic medals now.
Alex Zanardi
I was bribed into starting swimming with the promise of sweets and by being told that you can win medals. My mum had given me a bag of medals which she had won when she was young, so the idea of winning medals was very exciting.
Alistair Brownlee
I won some winners' medals with Lancashire - a NatWest trophy and a couple of Sunday Leagues.
Andrew Flintoff
Going for titles and medals - who wouldn't want that? Trust me, it's a much nicer feeling than fighting relegation.
Andrew Robertson
I'll relish playing at Wembley in a major cup final. It's a great achievement for me, and it's why I became a footballer, because I want to win medals.
Ashley Young
There's no medals for trying. This isn't like eighth grade where everybody gets a trophy. We are in a professional sport, and it is competitive to win. That's what we do.
Bill Belichick
You don't get any medal for trying something, you get medals for results.
Bill Parcells
I know beating a woman isn't like winning seven gold medals. But how many old guys are there in the world? You think they can relate to Mark Spitz? They relate to me, Bobby Riggs.
Bobby Riggs
The same people who recognize I came out with no medals should recognize I could have won three.
Bode Miller
It's hard to think it's important to try out as cheerleader when you're starring on Broadway. But you do kind of miss the things that I now see my children doing. I'm just happy they are not actors. The Valentine's Day dance is really important. Pitching in Little League is very important. And the medals and the scouts are really important.
Bonnie Bedelia
Teofilo Stevenson won his first Olympic gold medal in 1972 and his last world amateur championship in 1986. He won 302 fights and once went an unbelievable 11 years without a loss. Had Cuba not boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics, many think Stevenson would have won an unmatched four gold medals in boxing.
Brin-Jonathan Butler
Nobody cares about the bronze or silver medals.
Buzz Aldrin
When I decided to go for four gold medals I planned it out over a few years. It was in four different events and there was a lot to it.
Carl Lewis
Is it my fault that there is a stereotype that black people are not good swimmers? I know that's a joke, but somebody will say, 'I can't believe you would say that.' Well, first of all it's just a joke, and second of all if you watch the Olympics, black people win medals in jumping, running. They don't win any in swimming.
Carlos Mencia
Skating isn't about the medals or the results. I love what I do. It's much more fun to win, but you cannot every time.
Carolina Kostner
Times don't matter but medals matter.
Caster Semenya
We all know that we Africans just win medals in middle and long distance, and walking in their footsteps makes me feel proud, you know.
I'm not dreaming of any podiums or any medals that I can put around my neck. I'm just focusing on what I need to do today in order to be better tomorrow.
Brazil doesn't get a lot of gold medals, so whenever I get a chance, everybody expects me to win, and to get second is a big disappointment.
We moved to the city when I was 7, and the lack of exercise made me frustrated. I started fighting with my sisters, and my parents put me in judo as an outlet. I became very competitive and won a lot of medals.
The number of medals on an officer's breast varies in inverse proportion to the square of the distance of his duties from the front line.
Winning HOYS set me up for the future and prepared me for riding in front of lots of people, but the real highlight was the London 2012 Olympics. Being able to go out in front of thousands of people, on your home ground, representing your country and winning gold medals is something I'll never be able to beat.
It's insane to have won all those things - not possible. But what I love is learning, which never stops and is nothing to do with the medals you've won.
My ultimate dream was to get to the Olympics. I never thought I would come away with two gold medals.
To be one of the first British females to get three gold medals, to join Laura Trott in doing that, is a huge privilege.
The lines on your face are your medals. You've earned them, so why shouldn't they be worn with honour?
I wear my lines like a soldier wears his medals. They've been earned. They've been fought for - so there's no reason to be ashamed of them. In your 50s, you just care less about that sort of thing. I think it's to do with what's inside you. You can't obsess about the outside.
To be looked up to as one of the Americans that's supposed to carry the torch, go to the major championships and get medals, that's a huge honour.
Everybody kept saying I wasn't going to get any fights. And they wouldn't put me on TV and they don't respect women's boxing. But I also turned professional with two Olympic gold medals and that's something that no other American boxer has ever done. With that, I've been getting a lot of respect.
The working mothers of America deserve medals.
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.
Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.
It took me time to realize that the men who won Olympic gold medals in the decathlon are just men, just like me.
2012 has been an extraordinary year for our country. We cheered our Queen to the rafters with the Jubilee, showed the world what we're made of by staging the most spectacular Olympic and Paralympic Games ever and - let's not forget - punched way above our weight in the medals table.
I've been lucky: I've won a lot of medals, but I'd still like to win more.
I've been training super hard at the Lopez Taekwondo Academy in Houston, which belongs to my brother Jean. For me, I think confidence is the biggest thing; it's all mental. I train with the best of the best, including my brother Steven, a five-time world champion who won Olympic gold medals.
You know, me winning two gold medals, going for a third one, that's nice. But being there with Mark and my sister, and my brother being the coach, it's a dream come true. It's going to be awesome.
Put me there on the pitch if you want to see how much it means to me or how hungry I am to win more medals.
As the Olympic torch neared Lake Placid, N.Y., in 1980, signaling the opening of that year's Winter Olympics, newspapers and magazines throughout the world offered predictions on who would win medals in the major sports. Not a single publication gave the American men's hockey team a chance against the world powers.
Dad was a retired hedge fund manager who made enough millions to retire and focus on my game. Before that, he was on the 1984 U.S. Olympic swimming team. No medals. He was accustomed to winning at everything, but no medals in 1984.
I will try hard to win more medals for the country and make India proud.
I think people will see my medals and my performance for my country and not what I do off the field. They like me because I win for the country and I will continue to do so.
I've gone through a lot in my life, I have seen a lot of struggles and difficulties. I have braved it all and won medals for my country with my determination.
When I won medals, I think I was doing something for my employers also. I am making them proud.
The more medals I win, the more my ambitions and confidence levels increase.
My focus will always be my athletic career and winning more medals for the country.
