Top Quotes of 2012 – Part 2

Read Part 1 here: Top Quotes of 2012: Part 1

Athletics: “My mother used to tell us in the mornings, ‘Carl put on your shoes, Oscar you put on your prosthetic legs … So I grew up not really thinking I had a disability. I grew up thinking I had different shoes.”

South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius, nicknamed ‘Blade Runner’, remarks on how his upbringing was no different than his brother, Carl. Mama Pistorius did know how to motivate her son who finished 2^nd in his 400m heat at London ’12.

·Basketball: “My family used to call me an oversized kid and I think that’s pretty accurate in some ways.”

Jeremy Lin, commenting on his tall structure for Asian Americans who are stereotypically expected to have a shorter frame – clearly Linpossible is nothing!

Cricket: “I actually feel very embarrassed because I rejected him as a fast bowler. I think I did him and the game of cricket a favour.”

Dennis Lillee recalls rejecting Sachin Tendulkar at a MRF Pace Foundation trial in 1987 after which the Little Master went onto pursue batting more seriously. Indeed Mr. Lillee, a sincerely thank you from the entire nation of India.

Cycling: “There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ For me, that time is now.”

Lance Armstrong announcing he would not contest the doping charges against him and his former cycling teams, which brought a depressing end to allegations against him. Armstrong was not only a legend in cycling but for the sporting fraternity, given his courageous comebacks from Cancer to win 7 Tour De Frances. What a shame for the sport of cycling constantly haunted by doping – Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, several more top names.

Football: “Jose is very intelligent, he has charisma, his players play for him, and he is a good looking guy. I think I have most of those things, too, apart from his good looks.”

Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, jokingly remarks on Real Madrid’s manager, Jose Mourinho when asked to compare himself to the Portuguese at Harvard Business School.

Formula One: “If the sword breaks, attack with the hands. If they cut off your hands, push the enemy with your shoulders, even with your teeth.”

F1 Championship runner-up Fernando Alonso about his crunch battles with eventual winner and three-time champion, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull. In a controversy fuelled racing season, no quote served more aptnesses to the nail biting contests as much as Alonso’s.

Swimming: “I did everything I wanted to. I finished my career the way I wanted to.”

American swimmer Michael Phelps after retiring with 18 gold medals, which makes him the most successful Olympian of all time – 22 medals, 18 golds, numerous world records – will there ever be a greater swimmer than the Baltimore Bullet?

Tennis: “The only one that I need to worry about is Vishnu. The poor boy is 307 in the world and I don’t even know if he has grasscourt shoes.”

Leander Paes speaks about his partner Vishnu Vardhan, making it clear what his biggest worry is before the Summer London Olympics. The team captain was earlier paired with Mahesh Bhupati before the latter requested to change his partner that sparked a huge controversy in the Tennis world. What a pity, neither team achieved something satisfactorily!