More Olympic quotes

Katherine Copeland achieved her lifetime ambition of being on a stamp!
Oh ... and she also won an Olympic gold medal as well.

Please note, that's not Katherine pictured on the above stamps. That's the Queen.

I think all sports fans can agree that we’ve just witnessed a brilliantly exciting and amazingly entertaining Olympics, with perhaps the only disappointment being marathon gold medal winner, Stephen Kiprotich, letting his fans down by refusing to do a lap of honour.

That one small blemish aside though, it’s been a memorable and exciting Olympics, so to celebrate here are a few of my favourite quotes from the games, together with a few Olympic themed quotes from years gone by.

1) “We’ve just won the Olympics! We’re going to be on a stamp!”
…The first thing Katherine Copeland said after winning her gold medal in the women's lightweight double sculls.


2) “I tried to wear my tie into here. They said no. I said why? ‘Because of the rules,’ they said. I had my skipping rope in my bag and they said I can’t bring it in. Why? It is just a rule. I need to take a rubber band inside to stretch and I can’t because it is a rule. I was about to run in the final and a guy was telling me to ‘line up,’ to ‘stay in a straight line.’ I thought really? You’re going to make me line up? It is just very small rules that don’t make any sense to me.”
…Usain Bolt reassures the public that Olympic security are keeping us safe from the menace of skipping ropes, rubber bands, people attempting to wear a tie, and the most dangerous threat of all … people who don’t line up straight.

Usain Bolt celebrates his 100 metres gold medal
with his familiar pose, moments before security stepped
in and told him off for not standing up straight.

3) “Have just been denied access to the BMX, as the security changed the rules, what’s with all my bad karma recently!”
…Nine times world champion and double Olympic gold medal winner Victoria Pendleton tweets reassuring news to fans that security measures are in place to keep us safe from the likes of dangerous characters such as herself.


4) “It was amazing to receive the medal from my mum.”
…Zara Phillips after winning her silver medal in the team equestrian competition.


5) “They combed their hair about a thousand times and put lipstick on. Those are one-off moments that you will treasure forever.”
…Hope Powell, describing the GB women’s football team’s reaction on hearing they were going to meet David Beckham.


6) “Booo! Boo! Boo! Boo! Boooooo!”
…The badminton crowd during the infamous group match between China and South Korea where both pairs were deliberately trying to lose in order to manipulate the draw.


7) “We’ve already qualified, so why would we waste energy? It’s not necessary to go out hard again when the knockout rounds are tomorrow.”
…Yu Yang of China under the mistaken impression that it takes more energy to hit the shuttlecock in than it does to hit it out.

In this modern digital multi-channeled age we're spoilt for choice, but
in 1948 if you wanted to follow the Olympics you listened to the radio.

8) “I listened to the 1948 Games on the wireless (radio), much like everyone else did at the time.”
…Tony Kilmister, 83, from Hertfordshire, puts things in perspective to help us realise how lucky we are today to be able to witness it all thanks to modern technology.


9) “If you didn’t have a radio and your next-door neighbour had one, if it was something really significant on, you would probably go round and listen to it. It made it more of a communal experience.”
…Pauline Webb, recalls her experiences of listening to past Olympics on her neighbour’s radio.


10) “Good evening, Mr Bond.”
…Her Majesty The Queen greets James Bond during the opening ceremony.

“Both of us were slightly surprised with our grandmother’s secret hobby that she had of parachuting, which went down unbelievably well.”
… Prince Harry

“We were kept completely in the dark about it, that’s how big the secret was.”
…Prince William

“She has now been asked to star in the next Bond film.”
…Prince Harry


11) “45% of British people can not run 100 metres without stopping.”
…according to a YouGov survey commissioned by Slimming World. Surely this can’t be right, though. We can’t be that unfit surely?


12) “By the 2024 Olympics, it will be fairly common to use active contact lenses with lasers writing images straight on to your retinas. In fact, many of the people in the crowd will use them to zoom in or watch replays and extra content.”
…Dr Ian Pearson from Futurizon, reporting on his time-travelling experiences, presumably. Unless he’s just guessing. Anyway, either way, I'm sure he's definitely right, because experts are always so accurate at predicting the future. **shifty eyes**


13) “By the 2050 Games, competitors may include the offspring of genetically enhanced parents and some drugs and implants could even become accepted in different sports. The Olympics could be split into various categories, including one for ordinary ‘unmodified’ athletes, another for ‘enhanced super-humans’ and even one for robots.”
…more time-travelling revelations from Dr Pearson.

Andy Murray's dog lets success go to her head.

14) “Don’t even think about asking me to fetch! I have people to do that for me these days.”
…Andy Murray’s dog, Maggie May, letting success go to her head, as reported on her blog (but probably actually jokily written by Andy Murray’s girlfriend, Kim Sears).


15) “In our day it was much more of a game and I think more enjoyable for that.”
…Some old dude from some Olympics from the olden days.*


16) “As a man I shouldn’t be crying too easily but I cried a lot today.”
…South Korean Jin Jong-oh wins gold in the 50 metre pistol category but then badly lets himself down by crying.


17) “I think an athlete like David Rudisha deserves so much respect, even though you’re trying to beat him.”
…Andrew Osagie shows true Olympic spirit by praising fellow competitor and 800 metres gold medal winner David Rudisha, after his world record breaking performance in the 800 metres Olympic final.


18) “We’re gonna win 10-9!”
…The home crowd maintain their optimism after seeing the British men’s hockey team trail 9-2 to a phenomenal Dutch performance.

Step ladder for Mr Johnson?

19) “Get me a rope! Get me a ladder!”
…the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, asking for help after getting stuck on a zip-line.


20) “If our magnificent athletes keep winning gold we’ll be able to replace what Gordon Brown sold.”
…Ian Botham being slightly optimistic with his predictions that Team GB will win enough gold medals to replace 400 tonnes of gold sold by the former prime minister.


21) And finally I’ll round things off with my favourite quote of the lot:

“My doctor told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.”
…Wilma Rudolph, the first American female runner to win three gold medals at a single Olympics (the 1960 Olympics in Rome)

I like amusing quotes but I also like inspirational quotes and that last one was certainly inspirational. So on that note I’ll wrap things up by saying congratulations to all the medal winners at this year’s Olympics and also thanks for all the enjoyable sporting entertainment you’ve provided over the last seventeen days.

You can find more sporting quotes below:
Funny football quotes (part 14)
Murray Walker quotes (part 2)

Footnote: Most people probably already realised this but just to make it absolutely clear, marathon gold winner, Stephen Kiprotich, didn’t actually refuse to do a lap of honour. It was just a joke. Also, Victoria Pendleton isn’t really a security threat, neither are people who don’t line up straight. That was possibly just a 'rare' error of judgment from the Olympic security officials. Finally, quote 15 was actually from Michael Lapage who competed in the rowing in the 1948 Olympics.