When you win, suddenly this celebrity status is hoisted upon you.
— Lynn Davies
When you win an Olympic gold, it is such a powerful feeling that stays with you for the rest of your life.
People like Ellie Simmonds, David Weir, and Hannah Cockroft have become superstars alongside the likes of Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis. I think it has changed attitudes to disability.
I still do cardiovascular exercises, aerobic exercises, and then strength training, as it's important to keep your muscle strength, as every decade you lose about 10% of this.
I had jumped about 6.40 metres with no training, no run-up, and certainly no skill, when this big, good-looking guy came up to me and told me I could be great.
I played rugby in the winter, cricket in the summer, and for a brief period was on the books at Cardiff City. Athletics was only sports day for me. In fact, I never really liked it. I was never too keen on a sport that didn't have a ball at your feet.
U.K. Athletics needs to develop a financial independence so it no longer has to be subject to the whim of politicians. If you are reliant on government, there is a big problem.
It is almost impossible to divorce sport from politics, but sport is such a positive factor in today's society - there is nothing else which will bring so many people together in that atmosphere.
Belief is such an important aspect of sport.
I've been involved in sport right through my life.
One of our targets as a country is to now work very closely with the Commonwealth countries - they could become a very big market for us.
I am a sportsman, and I hate politics.
Dai Greene will be our greatest-ever Welsh athlete.
The reception and the welcome home was quite overwhelming but an indication of how much the Welsh people valued my winning in the Olympics - it was a great memory.
There are hurdles to overcome in sport and in life. Sport is a very valuable learning ground for how to live your life in the best possible way.
You've got to be a disciplined person if you want to succeed both in sport and in life.
It's perseverance that's the key. It's persevering for long enough to achieve your potential.
It was not about the guy who could jump the furthest; it was about the guy who could jump the furthest on that particular day in the worst conditions of any Olympic long jump final.
The important thing for the future is that our schools and clubs have more and better coaches and teachers to ensure that all that enthusiasm, spirit and talent is harnessed and developed.
We have to harness the Olympic experience and this inspiration young people have to get into sport.
You can be even fitter at 60 than you were at 20.
I remember one of my first international trips to Poland. After a long, tortuous journey, we arrived at the hotel exhausted but without the team management, who had gone ahead of us from the airport in cars, checked into the best rooms, and left us with what was left.
Success in sport is based on you thinking you are doing something to gain that edge, but if I wanted that little bit extra, I would go and run up sand dunes at Merthyr Mawr.
Athletes peak for the Olympic Games and can take months to get back up to that level.
I believe the friendship of the Games still exists. There is a tremendous camaraderie and atmosphere at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games - where else could you go and sit down and have breakfast with a Russian weightlifter, an East German sprinter, and an Indian fencer and talk about different cultures and problems?
One of the top political issues of the day is how to combat young people not being active anymore.
We're focusing on producing top, great athletes for the Olympics.
The Cardiff Half Marathon has already proved itself to be one of the biggest and best road races in the U.K., and when the best athletes in the world run on the same course, the times should be spectacular. But the real beauty of this event is that ordinary runners get the chance to line up on the same start line as the best athletes in the world.
I think a four-year ban would effectively rule out one Olympic games - a life ban is too harsh. I think everyone deserves a second chance. If you come back from missing one Olympic games and serving a four-year ban, you are a pretty determined and reformed character.
If athletes are found to have taken performance enhancing drugs, then they should be banned for two years, even if they are British.
The IOC are the guardians of the Olympic ideal.
You've got to be actively involved in the process yourself and you've got to listen carefully to what the coach is saying, take that on board yourself and implement what the coach is saying.
Sport and life is about losing. It's about understanding how to lose.
If you have a coach helping you, developing your skills alongside you, that's when you're on your way to becoming not just a participant but achieving.
I felt I was never going to beat Igor Ter-Ovanesyan or Ralph Boston because they were the joint world record holders.
We must have PE teachers and coaches who are well trained and qualified.
People need to have clear goals about why they are exercising, and they should consult a fitness expert to find out what kind of exercise is suitable.
You can exercise right through to your 60s, 70s, 80s and even 90s.
It's important for me that I stay in shape, although each year it gets a little harder.
There are a lot of kids coming in to athletics, but there is also a big drop-out rate. We've got it right at the top end, but we have to maintain the base of the pyramid.
I am delighted that Jason Gardener will be taking over from me as President of U.K. Athletics. With his competitive background in the sport as an Olympic champion coupled with his engaging personality and his experience as a board member of U.K. Athletics, he possesses all the qualities required to be a successful president.
Long jumping sounds simple - you run fast and jump well. But it is about getting all the technical bits right.
There's so much hard work, dedication, and focus goes in from not just the athletes but from the coaches, officials, governing bodies, and Sport Wales. It's a real team effort, and it's rightly called Team Wales.
It's not a bad idea to have gossip and talking points in athletics.
I saw what politics did to the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and I would defend the right of a sportsman to go and play and perform where they want.
To win an Olympic title when there are 205 nations taking part, you have to be super-human. You have to be superman.
My sporting heroes were Ken Jones, Stanley Matthews, and Cliff Morgan.
It's about somebody initially knowing more about it than you do but eventually you learn a lot about it yourself and practise the skills and techniques that you've been taught.
It's not just about a coach telling you what to do and just following it unthinkingly.
It's about lessons for life. It's not just about winning either.
