World Championship Quotes & Sayings

My only drive was to be the best dancer in the world, but I never won the world championship. — Anton Du Beke

Playing black, I put great stake in the Ruy Lopez: I liked it, feel it, and understand it; in matches with Hjartarson and Timman it served me well. - on preparing for World Championship versus Garry Kasparov — Anatoly Karpov

The qualifying system helps the top guys like Sergio Garcia, who play most of their golf in the U.S. They can rely on the world rankings and just play their four extra events [with the four majors and three World Golf Championship events counting as seven European events]. But for the other guys it's tough, and I don't know if that can be changed. It is a tricky situation. — Luke Donald

In a country that never wins anything: in Canada, if one of our athletes so much as makes the final in a World Championship, we declare a national holiday. — Malcolm Gladwell

The Ironman World Championship is the hardest race I've competed in. Not only do the elements (heat, wind, humidity) make it grueling, but the quality of the field makes it a true test. — Timothy O'Donnell

I decided on a vision. I think I maybe join Toyota at the midpoint of a project, whose long-term goal is winning world championships. Also I have my big ambition, the drivers' world championship. That is not abandoned - entirely the opposite. I am young enough and motivated enough to make a new start in order to reach this goal. — Michael Schumacher

I've been semi-successful. I've done all right but I'm not the player I was. Who do I think will win the world championship? John Higgins. Have I been good for snooker? I don't know. — Ronnie O'Sullivan

People don't own teams to lose money. If you ask any owner whether they would rather make $20 million and come in last place or lose $20 million and win a World Series, there's only one guy who honestly would take that championship: George Steinbrenner. Nobody else. — Bronson Arroyo

On the other hand, chess is a mass sport now and for chess organisers shorter time control is obviously more attractive. But I think that this control does not suit World Championship matches. — Boris Spassky

That race was so hard and I am very happy with the result in the end. Michelin did a great job with the tyres ? the grip on the edge was unbelievable! When I opened the throttle there was so much traction it was incredible. My team has done a great job and even if we didn't win we improved again in the World Championship. It is good to be the best Michelin finisher and the first Honda home as well. I'm confident in Malaysia that we can take revenge on Bridgestone! They did a great job and Loris rode very hard ? congratulations to them. A good battle to watch for the fans I think. — Max Biaggi

Beliavsky told me that, when he scolded Misha for giving to the Sports Committee almost all of his prize of several thousand dollars for winning the World Blitz Championship in Saint John, Misha simply replied: 'Well, they asked me for it and I gave it to them. — Genna Sosonko

He'd had no intentions of being at the World Memory Championship. Instead, he had devoted the last six months to memorizing the first 50,000 digits of the mathematical constant pi, — Joshua Foer

It was my proudest moment as a manager when England drew 0-0 with Italy in Rome to qualify for the World Cup finals. Fifteen years later, the stakes are equally high for both countries as they go head-to-head for a semi-final place at the European Championship. — Glenn Hoddle

After crippling the big red retard tonight, over a short period of time I have run the gambit of the who's who in the World Wrestling Federation! Crippling Stone Cold Steve Austin, destroying the unstoppable Mankind; putting him out for three months and beating him for the WWF championship. And then, defending it only a week later and dominating ... and, oh yeah, taking to school that little punk, your champion, The Rock! — Triple H

When we hold a World Championship for a particular sport, we invite teams from other countries to play as well. — John Cleese

The best players in the world are playing to make history. There are only four tournaments you can win to make history, and TPC (The Players Championship) is not one of them. And neither are those world events. And you're not going to make history winning some kind of FedEx Cup. — Paul Azinger

I've been on a team that won the world championship of barbecue. But barbecue's interesting, because it's one of these cult foods like chili, or bouillabaisse. Various parts of the world will have a cult food that people get enormously attached to - there's tremendous traditions; there's secrecy. — Nathan Myhrvold

They're happy to be Siamese twins. They feel blessed. But the rest of us have to go through the world alone. And they don't. And because they have this great attitude, they have a lot of friends. They were the kings of the prom. You know, they were in the state championship hockey team. You know, they're the goalie. And it's just they're a couple of winners who happen to be Siamese twins. — Peter Farrelly

Going to Omaha for the College World Series - the people there are tremendous - huge crowds and a lot of excitement. I still remember those days - you make a lot of friends that you never forget when you win a championship like that. — Roger Clemens

[Wayne Rooney ] best tournament was the 2004 European Championships, when he played alongside me and made such a big impact, but it hasn't happened for him at the World Cup for one reason or another. — Michael Owen

Some people asked me if it was going to be a downer to come back and play on a college team after playing on a world championship team, and I don't think they understand what it is like to play here. — Lorrie Fair

The minute you step off that podium is the minute you start preparing for the next world championship. That's kind of how I work. You celebrate for a brief moment, then you move on. — Abby Wambach

When I leave the NBA, I don't want my legacy to be, 'He won a championship ring.' I want my legacy to say: 'He played for the people. He gave everybody in the world hope that they can be just like him.' — Gilbert Arenas

My proudest moments are beating Ferrari for the World Championship in 1965, and working with Ford to win Le Mans in 1966 and 1967. — Carroll Shelby

I'd been ready too, because before Olympic Games, I wasn't compete in big competition like, World Championship, like European Championship. I just competed in national competition. — Olga Korbut

Some anthems are great for sports. You've got the Russian national anthem ... 'O Canada,' how wonderful is that for hockey ... but I chose the Italian national song because at my first World Cup, I saw the Italians play four times, and they won all four times - they won the championship. — George Vecsey

I'm not a player, I'm an alien. I wasn't actually there. I was in another galaxy with my galactic friends. My focus is on winning championships. I don't focus on anything else. Aliens only want to win championships. That's it. Injuries is not a focus. Trade talk is not a focus. Nothing is a focus. Gluten-free pasta is not a focus, which I would rather have gluten-free pasta. Hey, if I have to have regular pasta ... It is what it is. I'm still going to try to win a championship. Nothing will distract me from my focus, my galactic mind. — Metta World Peace

I honestly didn't even know who the coach was when I was coming to New York. I just wanted to win a championship; I didn't even know who was coaching. I didn't care. It could have been Aunt Jemima. They could have had the syrup coaching. I was coming here regardless. I just wanted to win a championship here. — Metta World Peace

It's torturous what my siblings put me through. I can take any Olympic final, I can fight in a world championship and fall behind and win in sudden death, but when it comes to my siblings, it's out of my control. There's not much I can do. — Steven Lopez

There are 3 basic differences between we British and you Americans. One, we speak English, and you don't. Two, when we have a "World Championship", we invite teams from other nations. Three, when you meet the British head of State, you only have to get down on one knee. — John Cleese

Every fight is do or die for me. I've come too far to start over. I'm on a destiny trip right now. I'm racing towards that heavyweight world championship. — Antonio Tarver

I'm of the opinion that a duck does not change styles every time it crosses a state line. I think they sound the same way from Canada all the way to the coast. As far as championship calling ... I realize that a duck could not win a world championship, and that's why I don't do that. When it comes to duck calling, our judges have wings. — Jase Robertson

People always say it's a shame someone as talented as Ryan Giggs or George Best before him never played in a World Cup or European Championship and I don't want my name to be added to that list. — Barry Ferguson

A half marathon is a good way to have a bit of fun and race against those girls and learn a bit more about them. The world half marathon is a world championship at the end of the day and it's important. I've win it twice and it's a quality event. — Paula Radcliffe

I've been very fortunate to be involved in all the Super Bowls, to see some World Series, to cover heavyweight championship fights; I've been to the Olympics and seen every sporting event there is. — Will McDonough

You always want to have good balance. That's the key to winning a Super Bowl. You look at the teams who have won championships, you got to have balance. So, to be able to run the ball effectively and throw the ball effectively is what gives you the chance to win a world championship. — John Elway

Capablanca used to talk calmly and moderately about everything. However, when our conversation turned to the problems of the battle for the world championship, in front of me was a quite different person: an enraged lion, although with the fervour typical only of a southerner, with his temperamental patter, which made it hard to follow the torrent of his indignant exclamations and words. — Alexander Koblencs

Nowadays it would be reasonable to have an annual world championship. — Boris Spassky

Too many times, people don't try their best. They don't have the keen spirit; the winning spirit. And once you make it you've got to guard your reputation - every day go in like an unknown to prove yourself. That's why I don't clown around. I don't believe in wasting time. My goal is to win the World Chess Championship; to beat the Russians. I take this very seriously. — Bobby Fischer

Liverpool have won everything but never a World Championship. I am sure in the future they will once again make the effort to win the tournament. They have had good rhythm in the Premier League this season. — Sepp Blatter

I started to really believe in myself, and my abilities, when I won the World Under-10 championship in Doral, Florida. I was nine and saw for the first time that I was amongst the best players in the world for my age. This was a massive confidence-builder for me. — Rory McIlroy

Big Poppa Pump is your hook up, and the next heavyweight championship of the world! — Scott Steiner

The world championship is a disputed title. You've got a situation like boxing. Speaking as a member of the chess world, it's extremely undignified. — Yasser Seirawan

When Phil Taylor is in the field - no matter whether it's tiddlywinks or the world championship at Alexandra Palace - he is the man to beat. — Eric Bristow

My time in the World Rally Championship has been a useful stage in my career, but I can't deny the fact that my hunger for F1 has recently become overwhelming. — Kimi Raikkonen

They were ridiculous times. After I won my world championship in 1976, I went to Japan. — Barry Sheene

Michael Schumacher deserved the driver's championship. To be honest, I didn't want to keep my record as the last Ferrari world champion; it's never done me any good! — Jody Scheckter

Billy Konchellah with his World Championship titles, Paul Ereng with his Olympic gold and Wilson Kipketer with his World records are my role models. — David Rudisha

Michael [Schumacher] was a phenomenal driver but for me, Ayrton Senna was the greatest ever. If I could get one world championship that would be great; if I could win three, the same number as Ayrton did, that would be a dream. But I want to be the best driver there has ever been. — Lewis Hamilton

When I won the world championship, in 1972, the United States had an image of, you know, a football country, a baseball country, but nobody thought of it as an intellectual country. — Bobby Fischer

I want to be on that team that wins the world championship here in Chicago and sees the city go crazy. — Derrek Lee

Only 38 per cent of players in the Premier League are English; that is a damning statistic. Soon, the England manager will have to go scouting for players in the Championship - and when I say 'soon' I mean the next four or five years, perhaps even for the next World Cup. — Glenn Hoddle

Look deep into your heart, Gentle Reader. Deep, deep, deep; past your desire for true love, for inexhaustible riches or uncontested sexual championship, for the ability to fight crime and restore peace to a weary world. Underneath all this, if you are a true, red-blooded American, you'll find the throbbing desire to be famous. — Cintra Wilson

I've been many times to Dubai and the U.A.E., and I have friends that live there. It would be exciting to stage world heavyweight championship fights in the Arab world. It's something Muhammad Ali achieved when he fought in Zaire or the Philippines. It's absolutely exciting to fight in countries where you have never fought. — Wladimir Klitschko

My goals are for the U.S. team to get to the second round of the World Cup and to win a championship here in the U.S. with my club team the Columbus Crew. — Brian McBride

Listen, you have to understand something. In all of the history of professional sports, the Cubs are the ultimate symbol of complete failure. The championship of baseball is something called the World Series, and it's been so long since the Cubs have won it that no one who is alive could remember the last time they won it. It's so long that no one alive knew anyone who was alive when they won it. We're talking centuries of abject failure here. — John Scalzi

Athens is a great place for me. It is my second home. It's where I won my first world championship medal, it's where I set my world record. — Maurice Greene

Despite winning the world championship, it has not altered the reality of the situation. — Wayne Huizenga

When you get a little older, you think, I'd like to make a little money and stick it away or buy a place - or win the world championship. — Chris LeDoux

I dream about winning a championship, where everybody is hooting and hollering for you. The whole world is drawn to the NBA Finals. — Ray Allen

I think the draw quotient has always been high in world championship matches because the amount of effort people put into neutralizing each other's openings. It's just now with computers that it has reached a new level. — Viswanathan Anand

I got to experience a world championship with some great teammates. — Kirk Gibson

We are a global sport. I mean, golf is obviously played all around the world. But when you have your National Championship, of course, everybody in America is rooting for an American. — Paula Creamer

I've had more world championships than you've had women! — Ric Flair

If somebody asks me whether I'd rather sink the winning putt in the Ryder Cup or win a major, it's the major every day. World championship or Ryder Cup? Win a world championship. At the end of the day you're going to be remembered for what you achieve in an individual sport. — Rory McIlroy

People confuse being world No. 1 with winning a Major championship. — Lee Westwood

I have been waiting to win a world championship since 1985. I've had three cracks at a world title - in karting, I finished third at Le Mans; that hurt because it was very close, but then in Formula One there wasn't really an opportunity to finally crack it, so it's third time lucky. — Allan McNish

Ferrari's only objective is to be at the top, in other words, to compete for the World Championship. That's our right. Winning is another matter. It wouldn't be a disgrace to come in second after a tough fight. — Michael Schumacher

The greatest single moment Ive ever known in Detroit was Jim Northrups triple in the seventh game of the World Series in St. Louis. It was a stunning moment because not only were the Tigers winning a world championship that meant so much to an entire city, they were beating the best pitcher I ever saw-Bob Gibson. — Ernie Harwell

I have great respect for Jaypee Greens as a company that has produced a truly world class, 24-carat, championship golf course. I am happy to be associated with a company with such outstanding qualities. — Kapil Dev

My first and foremost goal when I joined the Yankees was to win the world championship. Certainly, it's been a long road and very difficult journey. But I'm just happy that after all these years we were able to win and reach the goal that I had come here for. — Hideki Matsui

I've never experienced- besides the birth of my two daughters-the feeling of winning a world championship in New York in the new stadium. It's something I'll never forget. — Alex Rodriguez

If you learn to sell, it's worth more than a degree. It's worth more than the heavyweight championship of the world. It's even more important than having a million dollars in the bank. Learn to sell, and you'll never starve. — George Foreman

It wasn't until '79 I won my first amateur championship, and then, by '81, I was 14, and I won my first world championship, which was amazing to me, and in a very real sense, that was the first real victory I had. — Rodney Mullen

Roddy how many times have you won a World Championship? — Randy Orton

Every punch I threw with bad intentions to a vital area ... I aimed for his ear ... I wanted to bust his eardrum ... Every punch had bad intentions ... My record will last for immortality, It'll never be broken ... I want to live forever ... I refuse to lose ... I would have to be carried out dead to lose ... I was coming to destroy and win the Heavyweight Championship of the World, which I done. — Mike Tyson

Before broadcasting for 50-some years, I did TV, played 10 years in the big leagues, won a world championship - and played a big part in that, too, letting the Cardinals inject me with hepatitis. Takes a big man to do that. — Bob Uecker

That feeling is the same whether you're on either side of the hundredths. Obviously, it's great to win the world championship, but if you put down that kind of skiing, it's awesome either way. — Bode Miller

Having different people come together and be on a team and win a world championship is literally, I think, the definition of being American. — Abby Wambach

If I'm watching my favorite boxer, and he's just won the heavyweight championship of the world, and he retires, it kind of makes the guy a legend. — Nikki Sixx

Sugar Ray Robinson was at the top of the boxing world during the 1950's when it seemed that he would either win or lose the championship about every three or four months. — Dick Schaap

October 1976 was the penultimate performance of Bench's Hall of Fame career. All the early success and awards and accolades thrown in his direction had prepared him for this moment - when the Big Red Machine became a dynasty by defending it's World Championship from the season before. — Tucker Elliot

Around the time I opened my second restaurant, Etta's, I had just finished judging at the Jack Daniels World Invitational BBQ Championship in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Back home in Seattle, my goal was to recreate the sweet and smoky taste of that BBQ using our local wild king salmon instead of pig. — Tom Douglas

We won the European Championship last September and now the world title. That is some year for French beach soccer! Now comes the hard part. We have to keep improving and that's difficult because it's tough to do better than winning a world title. — Eric Cantona

I really believe in setting goals, no matter what it is: whether it's losing five pounds or making the world championship team. — Dara Torres

I am the best wrestler in the world. I've been the best ever since day one when I walked into this company, and I've been vilified and hated since that day because Paul Heyman saw something in me that nobody else wanted to admit. That's right, I'm a Paul Heyman guy. You know who else was a Paul Heyman guy? Brock Lesnar, and he split just like I'm splitting, but the biggest difference between me and Brock is I'm going to leave with the WWE Championship. — CM Punk

My pat line about the Cubs and payroll is that the amount of merchandise the Cubs would sell off a world series championship would more than cover for a big payroll. — Billy Corgan

With the Cubs, they've gone so long without a World Series championship, they wanted to win every day. I want that too, but I didn't feel comfortable. — Hee-seop Choi

Old Man's War (Scalzi, John) - Your Highlight on page 60 | Location 896-897 | Added on Saturday, April 25, 2015 10:20:46 AM "What pissed me off was the one where they got me all pissed off," Thomas said. "I swear I was going to clobber that guy. He said the Cubs ought to have been demoted to the minor leagues after they went two centuries without a World Series championship. — Anonymous

Eric Boocock had been England's No.1 for a spell in the late 60s and early 70s. He reached three world finals and in 1974 put the town on the map by winning the British Championship in front of a 10,000 crowd and ITV's World of Sport cameras. Everybody — Tony McDonald

They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship - " "Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Professor McGonagall's voice. "Right you are, Professor - just giving a bit of background information - the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and - " "Jordan!" "Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for goal ... — J.K. Rowling

The Booker 2011 is of no more interest to me than the world heavyweight championship, which I'm not going to win either. It's irrelevant. — Edward St. Aubyn

I am pleased that in a match for the World Championship I was able to conduct a game in the style of Akiba Rubinstein, where the entire strategic course was maintained from the first to the last move. — Boris Gelfand

I've enjoyed winning races in both 500cc and MotoGP and enjoyed leading the world championship and contesting it right up until the end. — Sete Gibernau

Carlsen will be ridiculously difficult to play against. (on the 2013 World Championship match) — Viswanathan Anand

To play a match for the World Championship is the cherished dream of every chess player. — David Bronstein

In the current FIDE World Championship, on the knock-out system, weaker players have good chances. Those, who in a long match would practically have no chance, here may creep through. — Vladimir Kramnik

I feel like winning a world championship was a hurdle I had to get over. — Lindsey Vonn

I vowed I would do everything I could to stop the Isle of Man counting towards the world championship. And it was stopped, so they love me in the Isle of Man. — Barry Sheene

If I would have listened to other people back in 2000 telling me I should have stopped playing basketball because of a kidney disease, I wouldn't have won a world championship. — Alonzo Mourning