Boys have always known they could do anything; all they had to do was look around at their presidents, religious leaders, professional athletes, at the statues that stand erect in big cities and small. Girls have always known they were allowed to feel anything - except anger.

There is such a rich sporting culture in Western Sydney, one that nurtured my sporting aspirations. Having Penrith Whitewater Stadium right at my doorstep was such an amazing advantage. It was a springboard to my success as an athlete, and I feel really fortunate to have grown up in this part of the world.

I grew up watching swimming and amazing athletes in Australia and grew up wanting to do the same.

You don't really get to witness what athletes go through. Like, the sacrifices and stuff like that. It's by far the most amazing, beautiful thing.

Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.

In my fourth year as a Games athlete, I had finally stockpiled enough wisdom and experience to keep a cool head in the midst of Dave's mental assault.

"Every great athlete has at least one moment that will forever haunt them because of what might have been. After years of literal sweat and tears, a dream can be over in seconds.

The road of life is strewn with the bodies of promising people. People who show promise, yet lack the confidence to act. People who make promises they are unable to keep. People who promise to do tomorrow what they could do today. Promising young stars, athletes, entrepreneurs who wait for promises to come true. Promise without a goal and a plan is like a barren cow. You know what she could do if she could do it, but she can't. Turn your promise into a plan. Make no promise for tomorrow if you are able to keep it today. And if someone calls you promising, know that you are not doing enough today.

Dancers are the athletes of God.

I learned that the only way you are going to get anywhere in life is to work hard at it. Whether you're a musician a writer an athlete or a businessman there is no getting around it. If you do you'll win - if you don't you won't.

That's the hard part about sport: as men we haven't started to be in our prime but as athletes we are old people. I needed support. I lost trust and did stupid things.

A good athlete always mentally replays a competition over and over even in victory to see what might be done to improve the performance the next time.

I just want to continue the success and be an athlete that is shown in a good light in New York City.

There is no correlation between a childhood success and a professional athlete.

Well I do feel that I carry the responsibility of representing my country wherever I am and this responsibility came with the success that I had in last couple of years not just myself but the whole group of tennis players that comes from Serbia. And athletes in general are in this moment the biggest ambassadors that our country has.

So much of a professional athlete's success depends upon not necessarily the play itself but how he deals with... always saying how you deal with good is just as important as how you deal with bad.

I'm probably the least flexible athlete you'll find. When it comes to yoga I can't get in the positions and I can't hold them. You have to be pretty flexible to do it. Once you get certain positions you have to have the core strength to hold those positions. It's a pretty good workout.

Meeting sports athletes that are the best in the world is a thrill to this day.

I long for the days when athletes were revered. I want to see the romance return to sports to see people enjoy the game purely for the game and the players.

Growing up in Huntington Beach you were either a traditional sports athlete a skateboarder or a surfer. I got my first skateboard when I was five and skated off and on over the years did a little BMX racing as a kid and then in my freshman or sophomore year I started getting a little bit more into skateboarding.

So while you're an athlete and you have that platform what you want to be able to do is make it work for you as much as possible because there's going to be life after sports.

To be candid with you free agency hurts all sports. It's great for athletes making an enormous amount of money. But to say it helps the sports I don't believe that.

One reason outfielders don't have stronger arms might be they don't practice as much as we did. Most teams today don't take outfield practice. Another reason is baseball has to compete with other sports now - basketball football soccer - for the better athletes that might have more skills and stronger arms.

There's nothing masculine about being competitive. There's nothing masculine about trying to be the best at everything you do nor is there anything wrong with it. I don't know why a female athlete has to defend her femininity just because she chooses to play sports.