Champion Sports Quotes & Sayings

As an Olympic champion gymnast, I have always stayed involved in my sport. — Nadia Comaneci

Boxing is a dying sport, really. Years ago, the world heavyweight champion could be said to have reached the highest pinnacle of sport. Even in this country, boxers were heroes. Think of Henry Cooper and Frank Bruno. — Tyson Fury

My father was an army champion boxer ... in the British army. And so he loved boxing and talked it up as a sport. But then when my brother and I were beating the crap out of each other, he was always trying to tone it down. But I am a fan of boxing. — Hugh Jackman

It's tough to know who's better in cliff diving. Like, you see a guy diving off a cliff and you go, Oh, man, a guy diving off a cliff! And then another guy'd dive- Oh, there's another guy diving off a cliff there. But you can't tell who's better, y'know? Like, uh- if you survive at all, hey, you're a great- you're a great cliff diver there. There's only two classifications in cliffdiving. There's, uh- 'Grand Champion' and then, uh- 'Stuff On a Rock.' Very hard to make a comeback in that sport, I'll tell you that. — Norm MacDonald

In the history of each sport, the heroes who win the Olympic gold medal are the ones we remember. Nobody remembers the World Champion 25 years ago, but everyone remembers who the Olympic Champions were, even 100 years ago. — Lavinia Milosovici

I love The Miz. His approach to his job is second to none; it's extremely important to him that he prepares on a daily basis. I travel with him and from the moment he gets up to the moment he goes to bed it's all WWE, all sports entertainment. He keeps his body in shape and he is a true champion in the ring and out. He's a great representative of the company and I'm learning a lot from him, not only on TV but outside as well. — Alex Riley

Single-mindedness. I hate to say it because I don't think it's the best thing for developing a person, but the single-mindedness - just concentrating in the one area - that's what it takes to be a champion. — Chris Evert

The best and fastest way to learn a sport is to watch and imitate a champion. — Jean-Claude Killy

In sports, you simply aren't considered a real champion until you have defended your title successfully. Winning it once can be a fluke; winning it twice proves you are the best. — Althea Gibson

Running isn't a sport for pretty boys ... It's about the sweat in your hair and the blisters on your feet. Its the frozen spit on your chin and the nausea in your gut. It's about throbbing calves and cramps at midnight that are strong enough to wake the dead. It's about getting out the door and running when the rest of the world is only dreaming about having the passion that you need to live each and every day with. It's about being on a lonely road and running like a champion even when there's not a single soul in sight to cheer you on. Running is all about having the desire to train and persevere until every fiber in your legs, mind, and heart is turned to steel. And when you've finally forged hard enough, you will have become the best runner you can be. And that's all that you can ask for. — Paul Maurer

Tibetans are not famed for their perseverance. Full of enthusiasm at the start, and ready for anything new, their interest flags before long. For this reason I kept losing pupils and replacing them, which was not very satisfactory for me. The children of good families whom I taught were without exception intelligent and wide awake, and were not inferior to our children in comprehension. In the Indian schools the Tibetan pupils are ranked for intelligence with Europeans. One must remember that they have to learn the language of their teachers. In spite of that handicap, they are often at the head of the class. There was a boy from Lhasa at St. Joseph's College, at Darjeeling, who was not only the best scholar in the school, but also champion in all the games and sports. — Heinrich Harrer

You can win all the tournaments you want, but the majors are what you're remembered for. It's how you're measured as a champion in our sport. The majors are where it's at. — Tiger Woods

The only way to be a champion is by going through these forced reps and the torture and pain. That's way I call it the torture routine. Because it's like forced torture. Torturing my body. What helps me is to think of this pain as pleasure. Pain makes me grow. Growing is what I want. Therefore, for me pain is pleasure. And so when I am experiencing pain I'm in heaven. It's great. People suggest this is masochistic. But they're wrong. I like pain for a particular reason. I don't like needle's stuck in my arm. But I do like the pain that is necessary to be a champion. — Arnold Schwarzenegger

I saw my name: THOMAS, Petria. Saw my time, 57.72. Saw the number one next to them. I'd done it. Me! Petria Thomas, Olympic champion. The feeling inside was one of pure, utter joy. Excitement, disbelief, relief, hapiness, amazement, the whole works. Id worked so hard. I'd gone through so much, privately, publicly. I'd lost faith in myself and found it again. I'd sometimes stopped believing that I could do it and that I had a purpose in life. I'd come through the darkness, and this, this moment, was the sweetest, most amazing light there could possibly be. I was alive and loving it! — Petria Thomas

I wasn't born a world champion. I just worked really hard to become one. — Layne Beachley

I'm playing right now a role, and the role is called the 'Heavyweight Champion of the World.' And it takes all of the time. And I love this role, and it takes a lot of attention for me for the sport, and I just don't want to lose the title, so that's why I have to stay focused and not become an actor. — Wladimir Klitschko

My greatest influences in my sport have been two former number one English lady darts players, Deta Hedman and Mandy Solomons. Deta helped me at international events and both helped me to cope with the big occasion which gave me the confidence I needed to become a champion. — Trina Gulliver

I'm not afraid of anyone, but sometimes I'm afraid of myself. The mental part is very important. — Justine Henin

As a child I was very involved with sports and I knew at age 9 that I wanted to be an Olympic champion. — Marion Jones

Things have been invented because of alcohol. Like the taser, okay? Yeah! The morning after pill, okay? The reach-around. Judge Judy. What has pot given the world? Hackey sack? YEAH! Hilarious ring tones? OH GAH! Ultimate Frisbee Championships? It sucks to be a champion at a sport that can't get you laid. It's an unneeded skill like, I dunno, being the best banjo player. Or a squirter. — Dave Attell

There is a scene in one of the Rocky movies where after the match Apollo Creed and Rocky are waiting for the scoring of their brawl all beat up and battered, obviously both fighters gave all they had to win, and Apollo Creed says to Rocky - "Your not getting a rematch" and Rocky says "I don't want one".
I love that scene.
That's when you know that you left no doubt - that your opponent, win or lose, never wants to compete against you ever again.
That's fighting. — JohnA Passaro

To win takes a complete commitment of mind and body. When you can't make that commitment, they don't call you a champion anymore. — Rocky Marciano

Boxing is a sport, but it's also entertainment. I wanted to transcend the sport and be considered just not as a fighter, or a champion, but someone very special. — Sugar Ray Leonard

A champion shows who he is by what he does when he's tested. When a person gets up and says 'I can still do it', he's a champion. — Evander Holyfield

The reason sport is attractive to many of the general public is that it's filled with reversals. What you think may happen doesn't happen. A champion is beaten, an unknown becomes a champion. — Roger Bannister

Ever since I was a child I always wanted to be WWE Champion. I've been in love with sports-entertainment for my entire life, and I always wanted to do that. — David Otunga

When everything seems worse, impossible to achieve, thinking about giving up, quitting? Remember why started first? Trust yourself, tap yourself and say if you cannot make it, no one is going to. Look back, the whole team believes in you, go for it and be a CHAMPION. — Vivek Thangaswamy

Champions are champions not because they do anything extraordinary but because they do the ordinary things better than anyone else. — Chuck Noll

On Rafael Nadal: Every point he plays is like match point. That's why he's the champion right now. — Bjorn Borg

I'm going to give the people their money's worth ... true sports entertainment for their dollar. I'm the undefeated IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion making my fifth title defense. The crowd will be with me because everybody wants to be with a winner. — Tavoris Cloud

In the 1950s, when I was hanging around Sullivan's Gym and the Gramercy Gym, there were fixed fights. Mob guys like Frankie Carbo and Blinky Palermo had taken over the sport; one lightweight champion loaned his title to others at least twice; the welterweight division was a slag heap. — Pete Hamill

I didn't aspire to be a good sport; 'champion' was good enough for me. — Fred Perry

At the time I attended a private Catholic school called Maryville College. I was the champion of the Maryville sports day every single year and my mother won the mom's trophy every single year. Why? Because she was always chasing me to kick my ass and I was always running not to get my ass kicked. Nobody ran like me and my mom. She wasn't one of those "Come over here and get your hiding [beating]" type of moms. She delivered to you free of charge. She was a thrower too. Whatever was next to her was coming at you. If it was something breakable, I had to catch it and put it down. If it broke, that would be my fault too and the ass-kicking would be that much worse. If she threw a vase at me, I'd had to catch it, put it down and then run. In a split-second I'd have to think "Is it valuable? Yes. Is it breakable? Yes. Catch it, put it down. Now run!" We had a very Tom and Jerry relationship, me and my mom. She was the strict disciplinarian, I was naughty as shit. — Trevor Noah

Hard days are the best because that's when champions are made. — Gabby Douglas

Essentially, I am a dreamer. I've dreamed all my life. When I started, I dreamed I'd be Champion because it is a sport that is all about the people who win the most, and I have a fear of not winning. — Tony McCoy

Why do we place such a disproportionate emphasis on sporting achievement? Why doesn't success in other fields receive similar attention ... Maybe it's because in a country that prides itself on being egalitarian, sport is intellectually and socio-economically an equal playing field. In fact, the more humble your background, the better, the underdog-turned champion is a narrative that resonates powerfully. We're far less interested in the stories of our best doctors, writers, lawyers, engineers, teachers or social workers. Their triumphs do not capture our collective imaginations. — Mia Freedman

Boxing should focus on pitting champion versus champion - those are the fights that everyone wants to see. The sports also needs to work on developing new heroes and personalities. I'd like to see more vignettes on fighters, focusing on their lives, goals and stories. Boxers need to be larger than life. — Sugar Ray Leonard

There never was a champion who to himself was a good loser. There's a vast difference between a good sport and a good loser. — Earl Blaik

A champion, he said, wins a World Series or an Olympic and is hoisted on the shoulders of teammates and fans. A hero carries the people on his shoulders. Champions live for the moment- heroes, like Jackie Robinson, transcend time. — Sharon Robinson

Sport has long occupied a special place in the hearts of Australians, and today the nation welcomes a new champion to the pantheon. Cadel Evans, cyclist extraordinaire. — Paul Ramadge

I wouldn't have been what you'd call a champion if I had accepted failure when it first came, if I had looked at it and said, 'Well, that's it.' — Shirley Strickland

The toughest part of the whole damn sport is the X Factor. To me, the X factor is your soul. It's your courage. It's your unique driving force. Suppose for a moment that [you] and I were [running]. Suppose that in every possible way-physical and mental-we were identical. Which one of us would emerge as the champion? — Brad Alan Lewis

Sports is about balls and about heart and you don't find too many champions in any sport in the world without heart or balls. He might have them, but against Nadal they shrink to a very small size and it's not once, it's every time. — Mats Wilander

It's not so much what you accomplish in life that really matters, but what you overcome that proves who you are, what you are, and whether you are a champion. — Johnny Miller

Greatness, whether athletic or otherwise, doesn't come from those content on just being but from those who seek being the difference. — Kirk Mango

A champion always prepares to win. — D.C. Gonzalez

In so-called communist Romania, chess was held in high esteem, even if our champions were weaker than the Soviets. This game, this "sport of the mind," was at the time a better way to establish your reputation than literature. — Dumitru Tepeneag

Never underestimate the heart of a champion! — Doc Rivers

To be successful in sports or business, you really have to live the lifestyle. Success is about lifestyle. Just because I was training and working hard, that didn't make me champion or a good fighter. My lifestyle made me a good fighter. In my mind and my daily life, I was the heavy weight champ when I was 15 or 14. I lived the life of the heavyweight champion, and that's who I became. And that is so much more than just training. So, when the time presented itself, that's who I already was. I was ready. I was already there. — Mike Tyson

Manny has swung with many men, but many men never seen Manny's blissful swing. — Anthony Liccione

The newspapers loved pinup pictures of pretty young swimmers, and as a national champion, I got more than my share of space in the sports pages. — Esther Williams

Champions take responsibility. When the ball is coming over the net, you can be sure I want the ball. — Billie Jean King

I was an All-American in wrestling in high school, was National Champion in Chinese kickboxing in 1999 and have spent a lot of time around professional athletes, which includes my eight-plus years as CEO of a sports nutrition company. — Timothy Ferriss

Throughout the history of the sport, the heavyweight champion has been ... a reason to talk about boxing at the water cooler. — Teddy Atlas

If you are going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price. — Bud Wilkinson