You can't control what the other athlete is going to do; you can't control anything except for your competition and how you execute the race or how you execute the task.

There's a complete difference between training for a specific event and goal and just training.

All my life I believed I became an athlete through my own determination, but it's impossible to think that being descended from slaves hasn't left an imprint through the generations.

That first peak is the best place to pause and look back, to see if you took the easiest route, to learn the lessons from the first climb. And it is the best place to examine the terrain ahead, to change your plans and goals, to take a deep breath and begin climbing again.

As strong as my legs are, it is my mind that has made me a champion.

As an athlete, I was never really comfortable with being a celebrity.

I don't always do a lot of predicting, but, when I get a really strong feeling about something, I will tell people.