Your spikes, which were really quite long then, would catch the material of the track and your shoe would get heavier. I was simply filing them down and rubbing some graphite on the spikes, so that I thought I would run more effectively.

Without the concentration of the mind and the will, performance would not result.

The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.

I lived on the top of one hill and the school was at the top of another hill. Nobody ever went to school by car - we didn't have any cars during the war. So that to and from school was itself a training.

I was always a great bundle of energy. As a child, instead of walking, I would run. And so running, which is a pain to a lot of people, was always a pleasure to me because it was so easy.

My family actually lived in the same village for about 400 years. They had great stability until the last century. People lived and intermarried in small villages.

I couldn't touch my toes with straight legs, but I could break 4 minutes for the mile.