Athlete Support Quotes

My overwhelming concern will always be the well-being of the athletes. In Olympic sport, it is rare for competitors not to devote half their young life to this. Their families will have given up all sorts of things to allow them to do that.

We have got to go out there and deliver, go on the streets and find athletes, improve facilities around the country and find coaches. We have got to go out there and search for a star.

That's the hard part about sport: as men we haven't started to be in our prime, but as athletes we are old people. I needed support. I lost trust and did stupid things.

Nike came to me and said, 'We're interested in the decathlon and interested in seeing if we can help you get as close to 10,000 points as we can.'

I think the UFC does a pretty good job of backing me.

The Olympics are only once every four years, so you have to take advantage of all your opportunities, both to be an inspiration to people and help support your sponsors who help you.

Michael Phelps is a good friend of mine, so I'm very supportive of him.

It's not just the players, it's the culture. Sometimes it's the people around them; the people who are looking after them - the money they're given. Some of the families give up their jobs and live off their sons. That would never have happened 10 years ago.

Puma does a really good job with its athletes and providing what we want.

He took a stance as a man, and the greatest thing about Peter Norman is when you sit back and think about Tommie Smith and John Carlos here in America, they could go beat up on Tommie Smith and get tired of beating up on him and go to the other side of town and find John Carlos and beat up on him, but when Peter Norman left and went to Australia, there was no switch-off on Peter.

Maybe UFC and Bellator should take care of the fighters when their careers are done, as the NFL takes care of their players. Because they're making so much money off us.

Support the athlete, encourage the team, help the coach. That's what good track parents do.

This is what I know for a fact. I know that every guy playing in the league, they have someone out there that loves them swearing up and down that they shouldn't be out there.

To me, Dan Evans is an example of somebody that puts the clock back a little bit and tells everybody: 'Listen, tennis is not a freak sport where you need to have rich parents, who sit in your players' box for every single week of the whole year, and you need to talk to your coaches' box between every shot.'

Coaches have the worst hours in the world. They go home maybe twice a week. They're sleeping in their office. They're watching film. It's a brutal, brutal job and that's why I respect them so much.

I am actually a huge supporter of the Canadian athletes, and they are all really nice people.

I have always wanted to be part of something special, and when I got to Boston.. actually, when I bought, begged and pleaded my way onto the Celtics.. it was already a championship team. I was just glad to be able to sit there and cheer and to be Larry Bird's valet, to be sure that his shoes were fine and his uniform was folded neatly.

Supporting black professional athletes was taken seriously in my home.

We look at 'Kneading Dough' as a brand that stands for athletes being empowered to have a conversation about finances, about what they're going to do post-career, what they think about when they're not competing in their sport, what they're investing in.

The UFC has been nothing but great to me. I can't complain; they give me what I want.

I want to do what I can to give the next generation of athletes added advantages in the game.

Boston has some of the best fans in any sport. They are very knowledgeable. They understand me. I was loved, embraced, and supported; what more can you ask for as an athlete?

I believe in greater self-sufficiency. International sport is tough, no doubt, but there shouldn't be too many crutches. In most cases sports psychologists are crutches, and they tend to soften rather than harden the players.

I had come across a few sports psychologists, and I had no time for nearly all of them. I just don't think they work in a team environment.

But I think there is a widespread opinion that the support system for athletes should be more firmly established.