Maria Mutola

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“But I’m so happy that I did it in Zürich and that I ran under two minutes again. Zürich has been good to me – I have won 12 races here and the crowd is very supportive.”

“I have been running in athletics since I was 14 so it has been more than half of my life and, from this moment on, I have to focus on something else. It is very hard but exciting at the same time. I think it would be difficult if I didn’t know what to do from here on.”

“My last race, it’s not easy to take, knowing that I have to put the spikes away.”

“They have named one of the Mozambique streets after me and even my old school has been renamed after me.”

“Yet what was amazing was that in parts of the country I had not been before, there were huge crowds at other airports. The whole streets—from the airport to the hotel—was filled with people, it was very special. I felt like royalty.”

“I grew up in Maputo, my family live there and the President made a plane available for me to travel from state to state to go and visit and talk to people.”

“Schools were closed so the students can come and see me.”

“On the first day I arrived there after the Olympics, I had never seen so many people waiting at the airport in Maputo (the capital), And they were all there for me.”

“I have one more Olympics in me—at least, If I did retire, I have my own foundation back home to help young kids in sport and I hope that will grow. I would probably coach somewhere too.”

“When I quit, I can say I have achieved the most important things...winning the world titles and now the Olympic Games.”

“People have said to me why didn’t I win at the Olympics in Barcelona (she was fifth) and Atlanta (she was third). They forgot I was young in Barcelona, I was learning, and in Atlanta it did not go well, even though winning bronze was still big but I needed more, so to be able to come back and be so successful is fantastic.”

“If I do win it, I will…oh I don’t know what I will do!”

“I think Brussels will feel very strange. The break will make it strange and probably the fact that I will be so close to winning the jackpot.”

“I know I am in excellent shape and I will try and take advantage of my shape to try and defend my world title in Paris. The world championships race will be very important to me.”

“I am very happy to be still in contention for the Jackpot but I am even happier that I can now forget about this jackpot for a couple of weeks and finally focus 100% on the World Championships.”

“Zurich is just magical. I have been winning every year since 1993 here and today the pressure was double as I was also defending my Jackpot quest. The track is great, the people are great. I like everything about Zurich.”

“Where you come from doesn’t matter at all. Whether you’re from a rich region or family or a poor one, you can still achieve your goals at school or in sport if you concentrate enough and dedicate yourself to them completely.”