They have a word in Finnish called sisu, which basically means guts. It’s the strongest word in the Finnish language. You tell a Finn he doesn’t have sisu, that’s like spitting in his face.

I have a saying 'train, don't strain.' The Americans have the saying 'no pain, no gain' and that's why they have no distance running champions. They get down to the track with a stopwatch and flog their guts out thinking that it'll make them a champion, but they'll never make a champion that way.

Well, no athlete respects a big, fat coach who's going to stand there and rest the watch on his stomach.

There are champions everywhere. Every street's got them. All we need to do is train them properly.

If you want to be a successful runner, you have to consider everything. It's no good just thinking about endurance and not to develop fine speed.

You must realize one thing. In every little village in the world there are great potential champions who only need motivation, development and good exercise evaluation.

My most frequent admonition to athletes and coaches is: train, do not strain.