Mark Spitz

“I walked away from the sport for 17 years, then started swimming again recently in a master's program.”

“In everyday life there is always manana. There is no urgency.”

“There are times I might coach one or two workouts a year when the regular coach gets caught in traffic.”

“And if you have high cholesterol, you would feel the same as if you had low cholesterol because there are no side effects, no symptoms of having high cholesterol.”

“It has nothing to do with swimming. That happens to be my sport. I'm trying to see how far I can go.”

“I always wanted to be a dentist from the time I was in high school, and I was accepted to dental school in the spring of 1972. I was planning to go, but after the Olympics there were other opportunities.”

“I'm at the depot, and I'm not going anywhere. That's better to deal with than having to deal with the unknown. And the unknown is they don't want to fail. They don't want to pay the price unless there's a guarantee they're going to get there.”

“What it is saying is that someone who was a world champion and who takes care of himself with a 17-year rest and applies the proper training techniques and perseverance could be successful.”

“Everyone loves to be loved.”

“Swimming isn't everything, winning is.”

“If you fail to prepare, you're prepared to fail.”

“One of the most difficult things for people who have been successful in sports is adapting to the daily world where you can't get an answer from someone until 5 o'clock tomorrow. There is always an excuse. Living 40 or 50 years like that doesn't get too exciting after a while.”

“Yes, I believe that the art of winning is through intimidation, and not necessarily do you have to speak about it.”

“The only side effect of too much training is that you get into better shape. There is nothing wrong with that.”

“My biggest loss was the Olympics. I just can't forget losing. I never will.”

“All things being equal, if we could simulate the same scenario, he has a lot more difficult task. He's elected to swim six individual events, as opposed to what I elected to do, which was four.”

“I'm trying to do the best I can. I'm not concerned with tomorrow, but with what goes on today.”

“Well my thoughts on American swimming are that our prospects look favorable, but we may not have as strong a showing in the gold medal count as in previous Olympics. But I am not coaching.”

“I swam my brains out.”

“By making a comeback, I'm changing the attitude of people toward me. If I'd known that people would react so enthusiastically, I'd have done it years ago.”