A Lifetime Of Training For Just Ten

It Dawned On Me With Blinding Brightness. I Realized: I Had Jumped Into Another Rare Kind Of Stratosphere - One That Only A Handful Of People In Every Generation Are Lucky Enough To Know.

I Wanted No Part Of Politics. And I Wasn't In Berlin To Compete Against Any One Athlete. The Purpose Of The Olympics, Anyway, Was To Do Your Best. As I'd Learned Long Ago From Charles Riley, The Only Victory That Counts Is The One Over Yourself.

We All Have Dreams. But In Order To Make Dreams Come Into Reality, It Takes An Awful Lot Of Determination, Dedication, Self-discipline, And Effort.

There Is Something That Can Happen To Every Athlete And Every Human Being; The Instinct To Slack Off, To Give In To Pain, To Give Less Than Your Best; The Instinct To Hope You Can Win Through Luck Or Through Your Opponent Not Doing His Best, Instead Of Going To The Limit And Past Your Limit Where Victory Is Always Found. Defeating Those Negative Instincts That Are Out To Defeat Us, Is The Difference Between Winning And Losing - And We All Face That Battle Every Day.

It All Goes So Fast, And Character Makes The Difference When It's Close