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I overcame size with mechanics.
I always got my work done before playing.
I was always more of an academic than a jock.
Stretching was a major part of my preparation.
My father was an all-American football player.
Black athletes are always under more scrutiny.
I used biomechanics to save time when I was competing.
I didn't get an athletics scholarship at a major school.
Both parents supported my becoming a world class athlete.
In particular, I studied German and Russian biomechanics.
I don't really see the hurdles. I sense them like a memory.
I was always a mean and lean athlete - not tall - not large.
I went to Moorehouse College. There was no track and field there.
In digital world, sport provides opportunity to bring people together.
I think I was in the most historical and golden era of track and field.
I wanted to go to medical school. But, I never got a college scholarship.
One of the things I'm most proud of is I went through my entire career drug-free.
I always had to keep improving my skills in order to remain competitive and keep winning.
I like to talk to people on the phone. I don't like to do critical stuff by text message.
When I first started running there were no computers. There was no such thing as a laptop.
I was black, studying physics and engineering. I was from a small school nobody ever heard of.
I never struggled with injury problems because of my preparation - in particular my stretching.
I never considered myself as a favourite in any hurdles event. I never took anything for granted.
My father was also a principal of a school and mother was a curriculum advisor. Both were educators.
Lots of people let it go by and never accomplish what they want. I just wanted to see what I could do.
My career proves that you can be on top for a long period of time by doing things that come naturally.
My eyes have been sensitive to light since the fifth grade. Without glasses I can't see the next hurdle.
Chicago is a fantastic city, and I can easily see the Olympics setting themselves right here in Chicago.
You have to have already convinced yourself that you are going to win no matter what other influences are.
One of my major competitors was Harold Smith. Smith beat me in 1977. I was loafing during that competition.
Nobody can walk on a track and beat me unless they have an extraordinary day and I have a bad day, which I keep from happening.
Concentration is why some athletes are better than others. You develop that concentration in training and concentrate in a meet.
Some days you really don't feel like racing and you have a great performance, some days you feel great and you have a mediocre performance.
In 1974 or 1975, if someone had told me I was going to be an Olympic champion, I would not have believed it. Even in 1976, I'd not have believed it.
Social ills: teenage pregnancy, gangs, children with behavioral problems. All these things can be alleviated if kids got more physical activity for starters.
I always saw hurdles as a form of art, because it's very individual. One technique that may produce a world record for one guy could be useless for another guy.
There are so many people afraid of a task. They get so overwhelmed by the obstacles in front of them that they shy away from reaching beyond a position of safety.
It doesn't matter who you are. It can happen to anybody. We have Kenyan, Dominican Republic and even Scandinavian Olympic gold medalists. All you need is will power.
My concentration level blocks out everything. Concentration is why some athletes are better than others. You develop that concentration in training and concentrate in a meet.
Going back to the '70s and '80s I was one of the athletes who believed in true sport. I never took medical supplements, believed in diet and exercising. I always represent clean athletes.
I used to have tears in my eyes on the way to practice because I was so focused. For me, track and field was serious business. I didn't have any friends. I was very isolated and very focused.
I used to be seriously incognito - without wanting to be. The effect of the magazines, television, billboards - they've changed my whole life in terms of having to deal with being a, quote, star.
No one runs fast without an extreme amount of training. Like today, you see kids walking around dribbling a basketball. I had a bag with track shoes in it, and I used to go to the track every day.
The joint lubrication was not what it was when I was competing, and I decided that not having arthritis or rheumatism for the rest of my life was a lot more important to me than returning to the track.
I ran my first race the end of March, 1976. And less than four months later I was Olympic champion. But I had the background. It's not like I just ran one day and all of a sudden became a champion. It was a lot of work.
I'm an engineer. I studied physics and engineering. In fact, in 1978 I started working as an aerospace engineer with General Dynamics. I used to test cruise missiles, space systems, I worked on the first generation of cruise missile.
In any competitive environment, whether you're in sales or marketing or whatever it is, you have to know your competition, understand who they are, do intelligent analysis on them and then you have to know yourself - who you are and what you're capable of doing.
I stand with all the athletes who believe in doing things right. The ones who win and the ones who lose while knowing they have been cheated out of their positions. There are thousands if not tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of those kinds of athletes out there. We have to remember them.
I found ways to maintain my performance through working with professionals and doing things that other people weren't doing. Later in my career, I had a great physical therapist who kept me out on the track. We were doing innovative things like ice baths back in the early '80s when everyone else thought it was crazy.