These are some quotes related to swimming that I have discovered on the web:
From Swimmers:
“It has nothing to do with swimming. That happens to be my sport. I’m trying to see how far I can go” – Mark Spitz
“There is water in every lane, so it is OK.” – Ian Thorpe (on being in Lane 5 for a final)
“Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.” – Dory, from Finding Nemo
“I concentrate on preparing to swim my race and let the other swimmers think about me, not me about them.” – Amanda Beard
“I have been visualizing myself every night for the past four years standing on the podium having the gold placed around my neck.” – Megan Quann Jendrick
“The water is your friend. You don’t have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move.” – Aleksandr Popov
“For myself, losing is not coming second. It’s getting out of the water knowing you could have done better. For myself, I have won every race I’ve been in.” – Ian Thorpe
“People ask me ‘what was going through your mind in the race?’ and I don’t know. I try and …let my body do what it knows.” – Ian Thorpe
“I wouldn’t say anything is impossible. I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and put the work and time into it.” – Michael Phelps
“When I go out and race, I’m not trying to beat opponents, I’m trying to beat what I have done … to beat myself, basically. People find that hard to believe because we’ve had such a bias to always strive to win things. If you win something and you haven’t put everything into it, you haven’t actually achieved anything at all. When you’ve had to work hard for something and you’ve got the best you can out of yourself on that given day, that’s where you get satisfaction from.” – Ian Thorpe
“Before the (Olympic) trials I was doing a lot of relaxing exercises and visualization. And I think that that helped me to get a feel of what it was gonna be like when I got there. I knew that I had done everything that I could to get ready for that meet, both physically and mentally.” – Michael Phelps
“I am not going to allow myself not to perform well just because I don’t feel well. I am bulletproof to the extent that a lot of things can be thrown at me, but it’s about how much I am prepared to let them affect me.” – Ian Thorpe
“I can definitely take more off my world record – a lot more. I have no doubt about that. I’m by no means putting pressure on myself, it’s just the belief I have in myself……I’m not going to limit myself by nominating times or anything like that. I never thought I’d do 14:34 and I did. I thought I’d maybe do 14:38 or 14:39 that day, and I went nearly five seconds quicker so I don’t want to limit the possibilities.” – Grant Hackett
“Body does what mind prefers.” – Lenny Krayzelburg
“Mainly, I like to have fun. Swimming is all about having fun, and I am firm believer that you should keep swimming as long as you are having fun, but I can say that it becomes much more fun as you get older and learn more about the sport, life, and especially more about yourself.” – Scott Goldblatt
“While I’m swimming, I sing songs in my mind.” – Alexandr Popov
“I enjoyed every bit of my swimming career. I think that’s the most important advice — to enjoy what you do.” – Summer Sanders
“I don’t want to be the next Mark Spitz; I want to be the first Michael Phelps” – Michael Phelps
“Being your best is not so much about overcoming the barriers other people place in front of you as it is about overcoming the barriers we place in front of ourselves. It has nothing to do with how many times you win or lose. It has no relation to where you finish in a race or whether you break world records. But it does have everything to do with having the vision to dream, the courage to recover from adversity and the determination never to be shifted from your goals.” – Kieren Perkins
“I swam the race like I trained to swim it. It is not mathematical. I just let my body do it. It is a lot easier if you let your body do what it is trained for.” – Ian Thorpe
“Most of the preparedness happens during training every single day, so it’s all about getting to a meet and being as relaxed as possible. Personally, I just try to stay in the crowd of people, just talking so my mind doesn’t think only about swimming. That helps me to relax. And at this level, we all know what needs to be done once we jump in the pool”. – Lenny Krayzelburg
“Enjoy swimming for swimmings sake. We have to spend far too much time in the water to not enjoy the process challenging yourself of moving through the water.” – Jeff Rouse
“Tonight was not about winning, it was about focusing on myself and what I was aiming to do. It’s the reason why I was able to swim so well”. Libby Lenton
If you’re not on your ‘A’ game in our workouts every day, you’re going to get absolutely smoked.” – Michael Phelps
From Swim Coaches:
“Susie had no talent whatsoever. She’s a little person who couldn’t even make a final at a state meet – coming and showing the world that on sheer guts and determination you can do anything you want!”
- Susie Maroney’s coach Dick Caine after her 200 kilometer marathon swim from Mexico to Cuba
From Others:
“There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time. I owe him my best.” – Joe DiMaggio
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke
“Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average man, you are just not cut out for positions at the top.” – J. C. Penny
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” -Aristotle
“If not you, then who? If not now, then when?” – Andrzej Kulikowski
“Breastroke is an athletic event, butterfly is a political statement.” – Paul Tsongas
“H2O: two parts Heart and one part Obsession.” – Author Unknown
“Don’t wait for your ship to come in – swim out to it.” – Author Unknown
“It’s a good idea to begin at the bottom in everything except in learning to swim.” – Author Unknown
“Seven days of no swimming makes one weak.” – Author Unknown
“If you have a lane, you have a chance.” – Author Unknown
“Swimming – The only sport with no half times, no substitutions, no timeouts, and you only get 1 shot for your goal.” – Author Unknown
“Half of swimming, is 90% mental.” – Author Unknown
“The swimmer who says it can’t be done is ALWAYS passed by the one who is doing it.” – Author Unknown
“No one ever got stronger by working less.” – Author Unknown
“Swimming is a confusing sport, because sometimes you do it for fun & other times you do it to not die.” – Demetri Martin
“It’s not the best person that wins, it’s the best trained person.” – Author Unknown
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal, nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The road to success is always under construction.” – Lily Tomlin
“We are successful precisely because we formed the habit of doing things that failures do not like to do.” – Author Unknown
“I define preparation in three words: leave nothing undone.” – Author Unkown
“The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” – Benjamin Mays
“At the moment of commitment the world conspires to assist you.” –Goethe
“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” – Jim Rohn
“There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in something you do it only when circumstances permit. When you are committed to something you accept no excuses only results.” – Author Unknown
“You’re biggest challenge isn’t someone else. It’s the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice in your head that yells ‘CAN’T', but you don’t listen. You just push harder. And then you hear that voice whisper, ‘can’ and you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the one you really are.” – Author Unknown
“It is not the hours of practice that matter…it’s what you put into the hours that counts.” – Jim Rohn
“What you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you say.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“I will not last forever. But I am damn well going to know I have been here.” – George Sheehan
“You only ever grow as a human being if you’re outside your comfort zone.” – Percy Cerutty
“Training is principally an act of faith. The athlete must believe in its efficacy; he must believe that through training he will become fitter and stronger; that by constant repetition of the same movements he will become more skillful and his muscles more relaxed…He must be a fanatic for hard work and enthusiastic enough to enjoy it.” – Franz Stampfl
“The will to win means nothing if you haven’t the will to prepare.” – Juma Ikangaa
“God has given me the ability. The rest is up to me. Believe. Believe. Believe.” – Billy Mills
“If I told you what it takes to reach the highest height/ you’d laugh and tell me “Nothing’s that simple”/ and yet so many times before/ when messiahs pointed to the door/ no one had the guts to leave the temple.” – The Who
“It hurts to a point then it doesn’t get any worse.” – Ann Trason
“If you don’t have time to do it right when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden
“I hated every minute of training, but I told myself don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life like a champion.” – Muhammed Ali
“When I was on the Olympic team with Michael Jordan there was this huge gap in ability between his ability and the ability of the other players on that team. But he was still the first one on the floor and the last one to leave.” – Steve Alford
“I knew where I wanted to go, what kind of player I wanted to become and I focused on getting there.” – Michael Jordan
“Upon the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions, who when on the dawn of victory paused to rest, and there resting died.” – John Dretschmer
“We are not what we think, or what we say, or how we feel. We are what we do.” – Gordon Livingston
“Never mistake motion for action.” – Ernest Hemingway
“Training is like wrestling a gorilla— you don’t quit when you are tired; you quit when the gorilla is tired” – Robert Strauss
“When I’m tired and my workout is done, I envision my opponent doing one more, so I do one more. Then I envision my opponent smiling packing her bag and going home. Then I do one more.” – Author Unknown
“Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.” – James Michener
“Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.” – Bill Bradley
“None of the secrets of success work unless you do.” – Author Unknown