Sergei Bubka (Ukrainian pole vaulter, 1988 Summer Olympics)
The Olympics are always a special competition. It is very difficult to predict what will happen.

Noureddine Morceli (Algerian athlete, 1996 Summer Olympics, on his 2000m World record)
It was an extraterrestrial performance. It is very special to go below 4:50, but I believe I can do better.

Daley Thompson (British decathlete, 2-time winner at the Olympics):
When we stage the Olympics it will inspire kids all over the country. A kid in Scotland or Ireland will be encouraged to take up sport.

Mitch Gaylord (American gymnast, 1984 Summer Olympics)
The greatest memory for me of the 1984 Olympics was not the individual honors, but standing on the podium with my teammates to receive our team gold medal.

Noureddine Morceli (Algerian athlete, 1996 Summer Olympics)
I believe in God. He is the secret of my success. He gives people talent.

Mary Lou Retton (American gymnast, 1984 Summer Olympics)
There can be distractions, but if you’re isolated from the heart of the Games, the Olympics become just another competition.

Pierre de Coubertin (founder of modern Olympic Games)
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.

Cathy Freeman (Australian athlete, 2000 Summer Olympics)
The Athens Olympics will be meaningful even though I cannot participate as an athlete, since I can participate in the flame relay all over the world.

Peter Snell (New Zealand athlete, 3-time winner of Olympics)
I think I’ve seen the fastest miler ever. His name is Morceli.

Scott Hamilton (American figure skater, 1984 Winter Olympics)
The Olympics in ’80 was phenomenal. It was my favorite memory of all competitive events, because it was brand new and it was exciting

If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell. ~Lance Armstrong

Cancer is a word, not a sentence. ~John Diamond

My cancer scare changed my life. I’m grateful for every new, healthy day I have. It has helped me prioritize my life. ~Olivia Newton-John

Bill Hemmer: “You said cancer changes your life, and oftentimes for the better.”
Joel Siegel: “Yes…. Gilda Radner… said this in her book. What cancer does is, it forces you to focus, to prioritize, and you learn what’s important. I mean, I don’t sweat the small stuff. I used to get angry at cab drivers. It’s not worth it…. And when somebody says you have cancer, you realize it’s all small stuff. And what Gilda said is, if it weren’t for the downside, everyone would want to have it. But there is a downside.”
~American Morning, CNN, 13 June 2003

My veins are filled, once a week with a Neapolitan carpet cleaner distilled from the Adriatic and I am as bald as an egg. However I still get around and am mean to cats. ~John Cheever, letter to Philip Roth, 10 May 1982, published in The Letters of John Cheever, 1989, concerning his cancer and its treatment

During chemo, you’re more tired than you’ve ever been. It’s like a cloud passing over the sun, and suddenly you’re out. You don’t know how you’ll answer the door when your groceries are delivered. But you also find that you’re stronger than you’ve ever been. You’re clear. Your mortality is at optimal distance, not up so close that it obscures everything else, but close enough to give you depth perception. Previously, it has taken you weeks, months, or years to discover the meaning of an experience. Now it’s instantaneous. ~Melissa Bank

We “need” cancer because, by the very fact of its incurability, it makes all other diseases, however virulent, not cancer. ~Gilbert Adair, “Under the Sign of Cancer,” Myths and Memories, 1986

Women agonize… over cancer; we take as a personal threat the lump in every friend’s breast. ~Martha Weinman Lear, Heartsounds

The most important thing in illness is never to lose heart. ~Nikolai Lenin