Linford Christie

“I think the Jamaicans are among the most talented people on the planet; it's just that through circumstances, through poverty, they rarely get the chance to bring those talents to the fore.”

“But I sometimes think we have too much of a fixation about 2012.”

“I have always eaten well.”

“I think the athletes respond well to me because I have been successful.”

“Appreciate me for what I am doing.”

“If you criticise something then you have to have an alternative, but we do have to try and improve things.”

“I love being in the garden, and my 'chilling-out room' is almost like being out there.”

“I grew up until I was seven in Jamaica with my grandmother, who I still think of as the greatest person I have known in my life.”

“You can always be stronger.”

“I don't think there are really enough meetings in Britain for our athletes to compete properly, and because of this a lot of the talent we have has been stunted.”

“I've never enjoyed being cooped up.”

“When I was competing I didn't have a nutritionist. It wasn't something that British athletics offered back then.”

“I like to have space.”

“Regardless of what I've ever done or will ever do, I'll always be black.”

“It should be your parents and others in the community that you look up to. For me it was my grandmother, a great woman. She had wisdom and knowledge.”

“My first love is the sport, and it will always be my priority.”

“I'm a very opinionated person and when I feel something I have to say it.”

“What motivated me as much as anything was to show the racists that a black man could bring pride and honour to Britain.”

“I used to say to my opponents: 'If you let me beat you, I'm going to tell your kids you were beaten by an older man.' When I beat them I would tell them I did it with a slight hamstring problem or that I was only feeling 80 per cent fit.”

“I've done my country proud.”