I'm thankful that my career at Oklahoma was marked with consistent leadership in president David Boren and director of athletics Joe Castiglione.

I've been blessed with athleticism, and don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for it. But I'm really grateful that I learned how to, without sounding arrogant, just suck it up and realize that even though I'm not at my best in a given situation, it doesn't matter. You still have to get the job done.

Throughout life, a positive attitude is important because without it one has a more difficult time achieving any measure of success, whether it be in school, athletics or the working world.

Nothing good comes in life or athletics unless a lot of hard work has preceded the effort. Only temporary success is achieved by taking short cuts.

Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness - a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster - children into strength and athletic proportion.

Because I just like sports, I like athletics and I like competition.

I learned easily and had time to follow my inclination for sports (light athletics and skiing) and chemistry, which I taught myself by reading all textbooks I could get.

Women's sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women's sports in the United States started in 1972, with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships.

Growing up in Quebec, we were always playing sports. Your first athletic competition was against the kids living on your block.

Deion Sanders played two sports, and Bo Jackson played two sports. I'm not athletic enough to do two sports, but I think I'm good enough to do two professions and do them pretty well at a high level.

I have long been one of those tedious people who rails against the coronation of 'student-athletes.' I have heard the argument that big-time athletics bring in loads of money to universities. I don't believe the money goes anywhere other than back into the sports teams, but that's another story.

I'm naturally athletic. I've been involved in sports since I could walk. So, for me to be sedentary is just unacceptable. Not only is it great for your physical body, but it gives me more energy during the day if I've worked out. I feel better. I look better.

Baseball is called 'America's Pastime,' but you could argue WWE and wrestling is very similar. We've been around since the carnival days. People want to be entertained. It's obviously two different sports, but everyone appreciates the athleticism of another sport.

I grew up playing sports, and being athletic was just something I have always hung on to.

I think sports has done a disservice for a lot of black kids thinking they can only be successful through athletics and entertainment. I want them to know they can be doctors, lawyers, teachers, fireman, police officers, etc.

I've always been athletic my entire life and loved sports.

I owe a lot to sports. My athletic ability made the transition from modeling to wrestling very easy.

That's what I'd like to do on the President's Council. Make sports and athletics available to every youth in America, not just one day a week like it was for me, but every day.

In England I played everything - swimming, athletics, football, rugby, badminton, cricket - all of that stuff. I was in the first teams for all the sports at Brighton, played on the wing in rugby, and ran 100m, 200m, 400m, and did long jump and even the javelin at one point. In the States I did a bit of track, but mainly I was there for the boxing.

Athletics are not my wheelhouse because sports were mean to this uncoordinated kid growing up, a 6-foot-2 14-year-old who never could do a layup.

I really liked sports and athletic stuff, but I was a total nerd.

The only athletic sport I ever mastered was backgammon.

I'm probably in the bottom 25 percent of athletes in the big leagues, just on pure athletic capability. But I've taught myself, through a lot of hard work and study and science, how to be really good at one specific thing.

If the IAAF feel that is the right way to go for TV rights and everything, the rule will stay. As much as I want to be on the podium, tonight is a sad night for athletics.