It's hard to think it's important to try out as cheerleader when you're starring on Broadway. But you do kind of miss the things that I now see my children doing. I'm just happy they are not actors. The Valentine's Day dance is really important. Pitching in Little League is very important. And the medals and the scouts are really important.

Who wouldn't be thankful for another medal?

Three events. Three gold medals. I was news, big news, in the sports world.

Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.

It's not me standing on the podium with medals. It's me being able to walk out with a smile on my face and truly being happy with myself.

I was at the Olympic Games winning medals and I still doubted my image. I doubted what I looked like. That's sad.

In the military I could exercise the power of being automatically respected because of the medals on my chest, not because I had done anything right at the moment to earn that respect. This is pretty nice. It's also a psychological trap that can stop one's growth and allow one to get away with just plain bad behavior.

My kids love it. I thought I was the coolest dad in the world when I got to be in a Bond film, but 'Harry Potter', too? Well, I think I qualify for a medal for exceptional parenting or something, don't you?

It really means a lot that I won the gold medal - but I woke up the next morning expecting to feel different. I felt the same.

At nine, my mom used to tell me she saw an Olympic medalist in me. I used to take it as a joke, but she was very serious.

It's painful to see that after Independence, India hasn't won a single Olympic medal in athletics.

I wanted to be the best street fighter in Houston, Texas. And I thought if I got a trophy or two, I'd go back home, and everyone would be afraid of me. I had one fight in '67, the first one. In '68 of October, I was an Olympic gold-medalist, a dream come true, with a total of 25 boxing matches.

We feel like we're the Olympic gold medallists and we have the opportunity to bring that gold home. That will be our goal and short of that we would probably be disappointed.

There are some real memorable highlights in my history that, in my mind, are such milestones. Winning a national championship in college and being on the Olympic platform getting a gold medal. Visiting the Hall of Fame and going into the Hall of Fame.

I graduated a the top of my class in the '84 Olympic Games; I won a gold medal.

God will not look you over for medals degrees or diplomas, but for scars.

Many medal winners dream of competing in a sport other than the one they're famous for.

It was never about winning medals or being famous.

After I got my gold medal, I thought, 'This isn't just me. It belongs to my team, my friends, my family, the fans, everybody who's impacted my life - this is our gold medal.' So when someone asks to try it on, I'm like, 'Sure, why not?' I might be a little too relaxed about it, but why would I keep it to myself?

After one Olympics, if we invest in sports and say we will get a gold medal in the next Olympic, it doesn't work like that in sports. How it works is that you provide the infrastructure, provide education about nutrition and health.

Now I'm an old Christmas tree, the roots of which have died. They just come along and while the little needles fall off me replace them with medallions.

Having the chance to win a gold medal doesn't come around very often.

As the Olympic torch neared Lake Placid, N.Y., in 1980, signaling the opening of that year's Winter Olympics, newspapers and magazines throughout the world offered predictions on who would win medals in the major sports. Not a single publication gave the American men's hockey team a chance against the world powers.

In the military, they give medals for people who are willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may survive. In business, we give bonuses to people who sacrifice others.