To reach the top of your profession, you need to be as strong mentally as you are physically. Some of the most talented athletes in sports history have failed to live up to the hype, whether down to ego or a poor mindset. It is the same with sports betting.

There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance in sport and only the best athletes can talk the talk and walk the walk. Here, we look at 100 of the greatest inspirational sport quotes of all-time.

1. “When you’re riding, only the race in which you’re riding is important.”– Bill Shoemaker
2. “A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever.”– Mary Lou Retton
3. “The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose.”– Ernie Banks
4. “Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.”– Ross Perot
5. “It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.” – Muhammad Ali
6. “You have to do something in your life that is honorable and not cowardly if you are to live in peace with yourself.” – Larry Brown
7. “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.”– Ted Williams
8. “One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it.”– Knute Rockne
9. “The five S’s of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit.”– Ken Doherty
10. “An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.”– Emil Zatopek
11. “Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back… play for her.”– Mia Hamm
12. “There are only two options regarding commitment. You’re either IN or you’re OUT. There is no such thing as life in-between.”– Pat Riley
13. “How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.”– Lou Holtz
14. “Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.”– Matt Biondi
15. “The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.”– Pele
16. “Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding.” – Jim Valvano
17. “Most talented players don’t always succeed. Some don’t even make the team. It’s more what’s inside.”– Brett Favre
18. “One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team. ”– Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
19. “Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you.”– Eddie Robinson
20. “You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out, but you gotta suit up for them all.”– J. Askenberg
21. “Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.”– Arnold Palmer
22. “The best motivation always comes from within.” – Michael Johnson
23. “Age is no barrier. It’s a limitation you put on your mind.”– Jackie Joyner-Kersee
24. “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi

25. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”– Michael Jordan

26. “Make each day your masterpiece.”– John Wooden
27. “Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.”– Pat Riley
28. “It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters.”– Evander Holyfield
29. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” – Muhammad Ali
30. “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.”– Jack Dempsey
31. “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” – Babe Ruth
32. “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi
33. “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth
34. “Never say never because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” – Michael Jordan
35. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
36. “Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that’s cool too.”– Pat Tyson
37. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
38. “I never worry about the problem. I worry about the solution.” – Shaquille O’Neal
39. “The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer.” – John Madden
40. “The secret is to believe in your dreams; in your potential that you can be like your star, keep searching, keep believing and don’t lose faith in yourself.” - Neymar
41. “Today, you have 100% of your life left.” – Tom Landry
42. “Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play.” - Mike Singletary
43. "Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t." ― Jerry Rice
44. “To uncover your true potential you must first find your own limits and then you have to have the courage to blow past them.”– Picabo Street
45. “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.” – Dean Karnazes
46. "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard." ― Tim Notke
47. "A champion needs a motivation above and beyond winning." ― Pat Riley
48. "You can’t win unless you learn how to lose." ― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 
49. "Each day you must choose, the pain of discipline or the pain of regret." ― Eric Mangini
50. "You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy." ― Arthur Ashe
51. "Good is not good when better is expected." ― Vin Scully
52. "If you don't invest very much, then defeat doesn't hurt very much and winning is not very exciting." ― Dick Vermeil
53. "Kill them with success and bury them with a smile." ― Usain Bolt
54. "As long as we persevere and endure, we can get anything we want." ― Mike Tyson
55. "It’s all about the journey, not the outcome." ― Carl Lewis
56. "If you have everything under control, you’re not moving fast enough." ― Mario Andretti
57. "If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!" ― Charles Barkley
58. "If you only ever give 90% in training then you will only ever give 90% when it matters." ― Michael Owen
59. "Life is meant to be a challenge, because challenges are what make you grow." ― Manny Pacquiao
60. "I can't relate to lazy people. We don't speak the same language. I don't understand you. I don't want to understand you." ― Kobe Bryant
61. "Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost." ― Martina Navratilova
62. "Sports do not build character. They reveal it." — Heywood Broun
63. "Be the hardest working person you can be. That's how you separate yourself from the competition." ― Stephen Curry
64. "The most important thing about winning is believing that you can win no matter who you are playing." ― Lawrence Dallaglio
65. “The man who has no imagination has no wings.” – Muhammad Ali
66. “Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man.” – Pele
67. “Victory is in having done your best. If you’ve done your best, you’ve won.” – Billy Bowerman
68. “I never left the field saying I could have done more to get ready and that gives me peace of mind.”– Peyton Manning
69. “I don’t plan on being disappointed. We plan on being really good, and obviously, we plan on winning.” – Gregg Troy
70. “You might not be able to outthink, out market or outspend your competition, but you can outwork them.” – Lou Holtz 
71. “I’ve got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.” – Larry Bird
72. “You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.”– Michael Phelps
73. "I start early and I stay late, day after day, year after year. It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success." ― Lionel Messi
74. “The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it.”– Wayne Gretzky

75. “Some people say I have attitude – maybe I do…but I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right there. ” – Venus Williams

76. “Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.” – Casey Stengel
77. “If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.” – Jack Lemmon
78. “In the end, the game comes down to one thing: man against man. May the best man win.” ― Sam Huff
79. “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” – Tommy Lasorda
80. “There are certain basic qualities and characteristics you’ve got to have. Number one: you’ve got to have a will to win.” – Bob Richards
81. "Success isn't owned, it's leased. And rent is due every day." -  J.J. Watt
82. “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan
83. “My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.” – Hank Aaron
84. “I’ve never lost a game. I just ran out of time.” — Michael Jordan
85. “Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.” — Billie Jean King
86. “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next.”— George Steinbrenner
87. “Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character.” – Vince Lombardi
88. “I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.” – Mia Hamm
89. “Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it’s because you’ve started to think of failure.” – Tommy Lasorda
90. “I’ve had to learn to fight all my life – got to learn to keep smiling. If you smile things will work out.” – Serena Williams
91. “At one point in your life you either have the thing you want or the reasons why you don’t.” – Andy Roddick
92. “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” – John Wooden
93. “When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success.” - Diego Maradona
94. “The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.” – Les Brown
95. You can motivate by fear, and you can motivate by reward. But both those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self motivation. – Homer Rice
96. “Don’t be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed.” – LeBron James
97. “I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability, it was my mental ability.” – Bruce Jenner
98. The time when there is no one there to feel sorry for you or to cheer for you is when a player is made.” — Tim Duncan
99. “For me to get through the toughest periods in my life, I had to look within to find the energy to do it. I don’t give up. Never have. Never will.” — Jonah Lomu
100. “If you fail to prepare, you’re prepared to fail.”– Mark Spitz

Which sports quotes are your favourite from our list? With some of the most famous inspirational quotes in sports history on the list, it is certainly a difficult choice.

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*Credit for the main photo belongs to John Swart / AP Photo*

 

FIRST PUBLISHED: 7th September 2020

In 2002, Great Britain wasn’t considered to be a nation of strong cyclists, having only won a single gold medal in 76-years. But, then came Dave Brailsford – now Sir Dave Brailsford – as the head of British Cycling.

We are now in the midst of his grand schemes coming to fruition with Great Britain dominating track cycling at the last three Olympic Games as well as Great Britain’s Team Sky – who Brailsford is the general manager and performance director of – producing consecutive Tour de France winners.

It started with two gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Great Britain won seven gold medals from a possible ten in track cycling. Four years later at the 2012 Olympics in London, Team GB repeated that feat.

Brailsford resigned from British Cycling in 2014, but his methods have had a lasting effect: the 2016 Rio Olympics saw Team GB claim six gold medals, winning silver in three of the four races that they didn’t finish atop the podium.

Team Sky has also seen unprecedented success since he started to manage the team in 2010. In 2012, his methods started to pay dividends on the professional circuit with Bradley Wiggins – now Sir Bradley Wiggins – becoming the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France.

Also for Team Sky, Chris Froome picked up the mantle and won in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, and is favoured to win the general classification at 8/5 this year. All of this success is based on Sir Dave Brailsford’s implementation of the concept of aggregation of marginal gains.

But, it’s not just the marginal gains method that rocketed Team GB to Olympic glory and forged one of the greatest cycling dynasties with Team Sky, as the tactics and techniques used in team cycling make a lot of difference when contending in the races.

Brailsford’s Use Of Marginal Gains

When Sir Dave Brailsford started with Team GB, he decided to flip the script on improvement techniques. Rather than aiming for huge improvements through strenuous regimes, he sought to think small and target individual areas.

The philosophy that he adopted was to gain continuous improvement through the aggregation of marginal gains; aiming to improve by one per cent in each area of cycling.

The focus was switched from aiming for the peak immediately to compounding improvements and focussing on progress.

Seeking areas to improve came by using knowledge from many different fields that could bolster the practices of his cycling team.

This included hiring a surgeon to teach the team how to wash their hands properly to avoid picking up illnesses during events. Rigorous testing and analysis were required to find the equipment or training methods that proved to be the best.

The one per cent comes from an improvement in the smallest area, such as the ergonomics of the bike seat or finding the best pillows and mattresses to provide a comfy, restful sleep.

But it’s not just practices that are broken down and improved. Even though Team Sky is made up of established, high-calibre riders, their strategies are picked apart and tested in controlled environments to find areas that they can improve, and then these strategies are built into the team’s plan.

By breaking down all 100 per cent of what makes up cycling into mini sections, Brailsford and his teams hone in on every aspect and make them the best that they can be.

So, when they are compiled on race day, they combine to produce a much-improved performance in every way. Doing this takes a lot of testing and, more importantly, a desire to continue to find improvements.

It’s the mindset that, regardless of how well the team is performing, there’s always a better method to be found.

But it isn’t just improving each area by one per cent; it’s about the ethos and mentality that the marginal gains regime creates among cyclists and the rest of the team.

For a cyclist to capitalise on the marginal gains, they have to buy into the programme and whole-heartedly believe in the staff and what they’re telling them to do.

This allows the cyclist to perform at their highest level when utilising all of the new methods and equipment as they know that they are improving and using the best that’s available

The marginal gains method also has somewhat of a placebo effect on the athletes which makes them perform to a higher level as well as legitimately creating superior training and racing conditions for them.

Brailsford joined Team Sky in 2010 and expected his methods to take around five years to get the team into a Tour de France-winning state of practice. But, in 2012, Bradley Wiggins rode to victory in the general classification.

Before that, in 2011, Mark Cavendish became the first Brit to win the points classification in the Tour de France, with the dominant Peter Sagan at 4/9 to retain his title this year.

However, in professional cycling, there’s another element that builds from the base of marginal gains and also bolsters a cyclist’s chances of winning: their team.

Team Cycling Tactics Enforce Superiority

Employing an ongoing system of marginal gains means that new riders can enter Team Sky at their latest optimal level and then progress alongside the rest of the team. But, Team Sky doesn’t merely employ anyone who can ride a bike.

Team Sky boasts a budget that more than doubles the average team budget, and they use it to employ high-quality, potential classification contenders and use their experience and skills to bolster their team leader, who has been Chris Froome since 2013.

The riders will have experienced the dominance of Team Sky so immediately buy into the methods of Sir Dave Brailsford, but more importantly, they stick to ‘The Plan’. ‘The Plan’ takes the form of an attack, recover, control scheme.

Because the team is made up of very technically gifted riders, who improve within the marginal gains programme, they collect at the front of the peloton before speeding away, setting an incredible pace while drafting their leader and shedding off rival riders before launching their leader to victory.

Much like the marginal gains, ‘The Plan’ is tried and trusted wherever Team Sky saddles up. Earlier this year, Sebastian Henao and Tao Geoghegan Hart paced wunderkind Egan Bernal in the same way that race fans are used to seeing the high-tempo setting of Geraint Thomas and Wout Poels for Chris Froome.

Having talented riders is important for Team Sky, with the 21-year-old Bernal the 17/20 cycling betting favourite to win the young rider classification at this year’s Tour de France. But, it’s the team’s unwavering commitment to ‘The Plan’ that makes them so menacing.

Many of them could potentially contend for general classification, but instead, their talents are utilised in a team cohesive to ensure that the leader wearing their team’s colours rides over the finish line arms aloft.

While attention to scientific methods, commitment to improving techniques and equipment, and assembling a star-laden team has bolstered Brailsford’s team to unprecedented levels of success, it’s his ability to get riders to buy into the team’s ethos both in preparation and during races that has allowed such progression.

Success breeds success: with the method of marginal gains gaining fame for Team Sky and Team GB’s success, athletes have become willing to immerse themselves into the programme to be a part of an elite-level winning team.

Establishing the psychological side of his programme and getting riders to believe in his techniques were Brailsford’s greatest achievements and what resulted in the dawn of a professional and Olympic cycling dynasty.

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*Credit for the main photo belongs to Peter Dejong / AP Photo*

The pursuit of centre-back depth continues for Leeds. Where a lot of attention has been on Rodrigo De Paul, Leeds United transfer news has featured a lot of defenders over the last few weeks and that theme continues with the latest from Football Insider.

Football Insider claim Leeds are trying to add a defender for the first team and another who can slot into the under-23s to be developed. Calum Chambers is reportedly a target for the Whites on a season-long loan.

The second player mentioned is a lesser-known name in Brighton’s Haydon Roberts. Roberts is a talented young star, and would be the one to initially play for the under-23s.

Football Insider reported last week that Leeds made a six-figure bid for Roberts, as they once again open negotiations with Brighton after a lengthy, and ultimately failed, chase for Ben White earlier this off-season.

Other Premier League clubs have shown significant interest in both players. A player of Roberts’ potential will attract many of the top sides around the country, and is also thought to be on RB Leipzig’s radar.

Leeds will be wary of a bidding war developing for the youngster.

Chambers has been made available by Arsenal after the north London club bolstered their defensive options during the transfer window.

Leeds had previously attempted to lure Rob Holding to Elland Road, but a change of heart from Mikel Arteta meant Holding was not available.

Chambers, in contrast, is clearly not needed at the club. A ruptured ACL midway through last season has sidelined the former Southampton man throughout 2020.

His return date from injury is unknown at this point, but it’s an important factor to look out for as this transfer saga develops.

Gvardiol Future Confirmed

Reputable transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano tweeted in the early hours of Monday morning, confirming Leeds have missed out on Dinamo Zagreb defender Josko Gvardiol.

Following on from recent reports, Romano claims Leeds had a fee agreed for Gvardiol, but that the defender has opted to move elsewhere.

His next club will be Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, who can promise Champions League football and have a reputation for developing young players.

Romano tweeted the following, “Leeds are now out of the race to sign Josko Gvardiol. #LUFC agreed fee with Dinamo but Gvardiol refused last contract bid - he’s going to join RB Leipzig, as per Sportske Novotski.

He continued: "Still no agreement for Rodrigo de Paul with Udinese. Last bid [€25m] has been turned down.”

The rumours about Gvardiol have rumbled on for a few weeks. Leeds will obviously be disappointed to miss out on such an exciting young talent, but it’s helpful to get some clarity on his future and still have time to make other moves in the transfer window.

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Credit for the main photo belongs to Manu Fernandez / AP Photo*