In para-cycling I am a veteran with Olympic medals now.
Alex Zanardi
I always look back to my first Olympic medal in 2004 in Athens. I was very new to the sport, and it was my first big win at the Olympics.
Allyson Felix
Adding an Olympic medal to everything that I have already accomplished would be so huge for me.
Ashley Wagner
I dreamed of turning pro as an Olympic medallist but I ended up turning pro as the kid who failed to make the Olympics.
Callum Smith
An Olympic medal is much better than a world record, and so is a world championship or Commonwealth Games medal.
Chad le Clos
If you dream and you allow yourself to dream you can do anything. And that's what this Olympic medal represents.
Clara Hughes
Olympic medals are the one medal that I don't have; I've won just about every other competition that I've been at.
Eric Shanteau
We can't all win Olympic medals. Even I never won one.
Esther Williams
Cricket pays well, so a lot of people are naturally drawn towards the game. But to carve a niche in non-cricket sports is not easy. So state governments need to be proactive. Indians need to be made aware of the power of an Olympic medal. It should be treated at par with an Oscars or a Nobel Prize.
Gagan Narang
I am glad. I am now an Olympic medallist.
My only aim is to win an Olympic medal.
Geeta Phogat
Now that I have an Olympic medal in my room, it makes me hungry for another and a different color one.
Gracie Gold
Having an Olympic medal validates that you can be a successful freeskier... It's like a credential that sticks with you the rest of your life.
Gus Kenworthy
On television, I have watched countless athletes from different countries, sports and Olympics stand proudly at the top of the podium and shed tears. They symbolized the Olympics for me because Olympic medals represent all of the hard work and sacrifices made by the athletes as well as the people who helped them reach the top of their sports.
Hannah Kearney
It is effectively a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be involved, and the chance to win an Olympic medal would be amazing.
Jack Rodwell
I always said I wanted an Olympic medal. It's the pinnacle of any athlete's career.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson
I've always dreamed of an Olympic medal.
Keeth Smart
I always thought the Vancouver Olympics would be my last destination, but I'm extending it to Sochi... I want to start anew, not as an Olympic medalist but just as yet another figure skater.
Kim Yuna
What I really wanted was to perform. So if it took four world titles or one Olympic medal, I just wanted so badly to be able to perform. So it doesn't hinder me sleeping at night that I don't have an Olympic medal.
Kurt Browning
I think an Olympic medal is the only thing missing from what I can physically achieve as a cyclist. I can't win the Tour de France, but I've pretty much won everything else that I can within my physical realm, so that's the only thing missing.
Mark Cavendish
I've never felt that I was less of an athlete or not accomplished athletically because I didn't win an Olympic medal. It's definitely something I would have liked to have added to my resume, but at the same time I think I can look back at my athletic career and feel that I was one of the best.
The incentive of a medal at the biggest sporting arena in the world is what drives me. Before I hang my gloves, I want to win the Olympic medal, and my performance at London will decide my future in the sport.
For six years, I kept my five Olympic medals wrapped in a plastic bread bag beneath my bed.
Women's marathoning was not added as an Olympic medal event until 1984 due to unfounded and bizarre concerns among Olympic organizers about women's ability to run longer distances. It was finally added after much campaigning.
I'm looking towards that Olympic medal and that Olympic gold and what it's going to take to get there.
People tell me an Olympic medal is a life-changing event. Except I don't even think about the medal unless someone asks about it.
One thing I've learned from winning an Olympic medal is that it's really exhausting.
Records are there to be broken. Lots of people would love to swap their world record for an Olympic medal, but for me, my medals are there forever and ever, and that's what does it for me.
I want to get another Olympic medal outside the team event.
I didn't think I would have an Olympic medal at 21, but I knew I would give my best and play my game. I just viewed it as my first Olympics and that I would take it one match at a time, but to bring a silver home made me very, very happy.
Nagpur to Kanyakumari and Kashmir, future Olympic medallists can come from anywhere. It is the passion that drives you, not the city, provided you get enough facilities.
The Olympic medal gave me a lot of confidence, and I went and won my first Super Series in Hong Kong. So in that regards, what Rio did was give me extra motivation and the confidence that now anything can happen.
I would be happy with an Olympic bronze. What I don't have is an Olympic medal.
An Olympic medal won't define my whole life, although it might look like it to onlookers. When I look back, I should have been able to get an Olympic medal.
I have always wanted an Olympic medal. I always wanted to see India's national flag going up at the podium.
At nine, my mom used to tell me she saw an Olympic medalist in me. I used to take it as a joke, but she was very serious.
I wanted to win an Olympic medal for my country but because of circumstances, I had to become a professional wrestler. I will have fulfilled my dream if I can support even one kid who wins a medal for the country.
I kind of always took it for granted the fact that my parents were Olympic medalists.
Any chance we have to skate for another Olympic medal, it's amazing.
Once, every four years, you get an opportunity to compete in the Olympics. You have these six dives that decide whether you're an Olympic medallist or not, which is quite intense.
I think if I am to win an Olympic medal I'll have to score like I did today.
There was a time in my life I wanted that Olympic medal, and all I did was train, train, train and work harder than ever.
If I'd gone into taekwondo, I'd probably have won several Olympic medals.
