Haile Gebrselassie Quotes

Success for an athlete follows many years of hard work and dedication.

I ran and ran and ran every day, and I acquired this sense of determination, this sense of spirit that I would never, never give up, no matter what else happened.

Games are not so bad because the adrenalin keeps you going, but training on a daily basis when every time you move it hurts, that is a real battle.

From the age of 6, when I won my first race in skiing, I was on the national ski teams, really until Olympics in '72, so I always had a lot of discipline and commitment to achieve as much as I could in good way. Competitiveness doesn't stop when you stop skiing.

At Milan, Kaka used to work even when we had two or three days off. And our fitness coach, Daniele Tognaccini, made him run.

Any time you're banged up, your body hurts, you don't really feel like going to the gym. That's when I feel like you really have to push through it. That's when you really make the leaps and bounds in your game. So, pushing through those days is never easy, but that's what gets you good.

A football player at any level must set goals.

I never take a round off or a run off or a push-up off; that's just not in me.

If you train with fast athletes, it keeps you pushing. I know that good preparation is more important than everything else.

I believe ability can get you to the top,” says coach John Wooden, “but it takes character to keep you there.… It’s so easy to … begin thinking you can just ‘turn it on’ automatically, without proper preparation. It takes real character to keep working as hard or even harder once you’re there. When you read about an athlete or team that wins over and over and over, remind yourself, ‘More than ability, they have character.'

I have a real worker-bee mentality. Just show up, just do it. Even if you feel like s--t and you think you're terrible and you'll never get better and it will never go anywhere, just show up and do it. And, eventually, something happens.

Natural talent only determines the limits of your athletic potential. It's dedication and a willingness to discipline your life that makes you great.

I know the most important faculty to develop is one for hard, continuous and varied work and living; but the difference between knowing this and doing anything consistent about it is often abysmal.

I'm an athlete who's very determined and I understand sacrifice.

Practice the game the way you're going to play the game. Practice hard and play hard. Run hard and above all else, hustle every moment you're on the field where you are practicing or playing in a game.

Tennis can be a very frustrating sport. There is no way around the hard work. Embrace it. You have to put in the hours because there is always something you can improve. [Y]ou have to put in a lot of sacrifice and effort for sometimes little reward but you have to know that, if you put in the right effort, the reward will come.

Fights aren't won in the octagon, they're won in the months leading up to them, in a near-empty gym, in the lost hours of a day, whether I feel like it or not.

...Competitive Skaters must be prepared for a lot of work, challenges, self-discipline, and motivation. The desire must be there, but more importantly, your love for the sport.

Win or lose you will never regret working hard, making sacrifices, being disciplined or focusing too much. Success is measured by what we have done to prepare for competition.

I'd say the most memorable thing for me was my dedication and motivation in how I got so involved in boxing.

When you step on the treadmill, make a commitment. Do, say, 3 miles a day. And don't get off until you finish. It doesn't matter what speed you're going. Just don't get off.

Let's face it: fitness is boring. But it's critical to be extremely dedicated to whatever you decide to take up to achieve a desired result. There's no way you are going to get there without dedication, which is the key for me.

The discipline required for athletics carried through to writing. You call it obsession. I call it discipline. By the way, I see nothing wrong with that.

No matter what I'm doing, I'm training. I'm training every day and I think that's something I won't lose - no matter what I do, no matter what event I'm at, I always find a way to train. It's just something that I love to do.

I just see myself as an athlete and a competitor, someone who just works really hard at trying to get better at golf.