It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.
Getting started as a volunteer anywhere can be a challenge to a lot of people. The biggest hurdle is that people think they have to give all of their spare time. But if you only have a half hour, you can still make a difference. Assisting with small tasks is invaluable.
When I was in elementary school, we weren't allowed to do sports other than cheerleading. By junior high, they let us play, but we had to come back after 6:30 p.m. to practice because there was only one gymnasium and the boys used it first.
I learned to listen and listen very well. It helped me athletically and in the classroom as well.
As you grow older and young people come up to you with their history books, you realize that some of the things I have been able to do have been impactful. But for me, I try to keep everything in perspective and stay humble.
Even at 10 or 12, I was a hot, fast little cheerleader.
What people need to know is that asthma isn't a minor 'wheeze-disease.' It kills over five thousand people in America every year, and I could've been one of them.
Teaching kids about health and fitness is important to me. It's about being fit for life.
I'm more of a hands-on person. I like working with young people from the standpoint of providing support for the grassroots programs. State, national and Olympic champions begin at a grassroots level.
The person who talks a lot or talks over people misses out because they weren't listening.
There are few restrictions on your life with asthma, as long as you take care of yourself.
Even if the person doesn't know what the internet can do, we can bring it to them and show how it can make a difference in their lives.
Once I leave this earth, I know I've done something that will continue to help others.
I'm not shy. I'm modest, but I'm very outgoing.
I don't think being an athlete is unfeminine. I think of it as a kind of grace.
When I started competing, you had to have your coach there. Now you can be coached from a home office via Skype or video. That's not the same as having them on the field with you.
Ask any athlete: We all hurt at times. I'm asking my body to go through seven different tasks. To ask it not to ache would be too much.
I don't have to be enemies with someone to be competitors with them.
Give back in some way. Always be thoughtful of others.
I love track and field, but I also know the day will come when I will have to do something else.
For me it's the challenge -- the challenge to try to beat myself or do better than I did in the past. I try to keep in mind not what I have accomplished but what I have to try to accomplish in the future.
Girls playing sports is not about winning gold medals. It's about self-esteem, learning to compete and learning how hard you have to work in order to achieve your goals.
I set my sights on making an Olympic team, not realizing how tough it was going to be.
I've had asthma my entire life.
We live in a world where sports have the potential to bridge the gap between racism, sexism and discrimination. The 2012 Olympic Games was a great start but hopefully what these games taught us is that if women are given an opportunity on an equal playing field the possibilities for women are endless.
Quality training is what I do now; before it was a combination of both quality and quantity. Now I'm not trying to be a world-class athlete, I don't need to train at that level. It's about being fit, fit for life.
If I stop to kick every barking dog I am not going to get where I'm going.
All I ever wanted really, and continue to want out of life, is to give 100 percent to whatever I'm doing and to be committed to whatever I'm doing and then let the results speak for themselves. Also to never take myself or people for granted and always be thankful and grateful to the people who helped me.
There are many women who came before me who didn't really have the same opportunities that I have had. That's why I always wanted to be a great ambassador - not only today's generation - but for the women who really didn't have a voice, but who paved the way for me.
I always keep myself in a position of being a student.
The glory of sport comes from dedication, determination and desire. Achieving success and personal glory in athletics has less to do with wins and losses than it does with learning how to prepare yourself so that at the end of the day, whether on the track or in the office, you know that there was nothing more you could have done to reach your ultimate goal.
I maintained my edge by always being a student; you will always have something new to learn.
My passion for giving is no different than yours. I give because it's in my heart to give. I give because I was taught to give at a very early age. This is how I developed my passion for giving.
I might attempt Zumba. I haven't yet, but I thought it would be a lot of fun and different.
I do not take steroids. I never have. It's sad to me that people want to point fingers. I don't do that. That's not me. I wouldn't feel like a human being.
I'm a realist and I always have been.
It wasn't until I was 14 and watched the 1976 Olympic games on television that I really started to dream about the big time. I remember seeing Evelyn Ashford in the 100 meters, and she was going to UCLA.
The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing.
The only person who can stop you from reaching your goals is you.
Society always needs a level playing field. In order to do that, you have to have opportunity, and providing that opportunity begins with 'how do we bridge that gap,' that so-called Digital Divide? How can we get internet into every home possible?
People assuming that because I'm a great athlete, I can dance. But no. My rhythm is off a little bit.
I really do miss playing basketball. I don't play a lot of pick-up games. But I do like using basketball as a form of cross training.
The 2012 London Olympic Games fostered a generation of hope. I witnessed women participating for the very first time, representing every nation.
I was diagnosed with asthma when I was 18 during my freshman year at UCLA. I refused to accept it - and I hid it from my coaches and teammates. But ignoring my problem didn't make it go away.
"Competing in both track and field and basketball for the Bruins I have a lot of great memories to choose from. But my all-time favorite moment in collegiate sports has to be in 1982 when we won UCLA's first NCAA title in track."
My denial and irresponsible attitude about asthma put me at great risk and caused me so much needless suffering. My hope is that the kids I talk to learn to open up about their asthma, become educated about their condition, and seek help.
The London games mark the 24th anniversary of my winning two golds and setting the world record in the heptathlon. Someone is going to want it; records are made to be broken - it's only a matter of time. I hope mine will outlive me.
I'm always challenged by someone.
I would like 'I Dream of Genie' powers.
Age is no barrier. It's a limitation you put on your mind.
Don't follow in any footprints, make your own prints. Because, you are the future of tomorrow.
Winning is great, but being able to finish my last Olympic Games on American soil was very important. Even though I was injured, I didn't let my psyche get the best of me and cause me to doubt myself, so I was willing to pull every muscle in my body in '96 in order to get the job done and I came away with the bronze medal.
There is something about seeing myself improve that motivates and excites me.
The greatest finish line for me was finishing college - it was a pact I made with my mother, during a time when she fell ill. That happened during my Freshman year, and unfortunately she never saw me compete in the Olympics. But she really wanted me to finish college, because she never finished Junior High.
