It's extremely hard for athletes to accept what's happened to them sometimes. It's hard to be beaten by a small margin and I've spoken with athletes who for years afterward have been tormented by the knowledge that had they done something ever so slightly different they could have been one-ten-thousandth of a second quicker.

Universities exist to transmit knowledge and understanding of ideas and values to students not to provide entertainment for spectators or employment for athletes.

That's one of the reasons I moved to Florida. Of course the main reason is the weather and the training. But there's more jealousy in Switzerland because it's so little and they don't have so many athletes.

Athletes tend to have less of a sense of humor than most people. They are heroes to so many. That might be part of it.

Personal technology has given us the freedom of being able to do whatever we want - and in the case of celebrities and athletes whomever they want. But it can also serve as a humiliation jetpack.

When you become famous you start getting invites to parties where there are famous athletes and famous rock stars politicians people who have tremendous power and affluence. It's not in my DNA but certainly I have been exposed to it.

I firmly believe that all human beings have access to extraordinary energies and powers. Judging from accounts of mystical experience heightened creativity or exceptional performance by athletes and artists we harbor a greater life than we know.

I feel sorry sometimes for these sportsmen and women who put in just as much effort as the footballers. For example athletes train at least as hard as footballers but have to be happy if they can earn enough to finance a decent education.

The London Games will be designed for the athletes and we will provide them with the very best venues and the very best conditions to pursue their sporting dreams in London.

Too many athletes are living in a tiny window. They have no vision for themselves - what they can be outside of football and what they can mean to a community. They just don't know any better. My hopes and dreams are unlimited.