All my life I believed I became an athlete through my own determination, but it's impossible to think that being descended from slaves hasn't left an imprint through the generations. Difficult as it was to hear, slavery has benefited descendants like me - I believe there is a superior athletic gene in us.

Difficult as it was to hear, slavery has benefited descendants like me – I believe there is a superior athletic gene in us.

As an athlete, I’d average four hours a day. It doesn’t sound like a lot when some people say they’re training for 10 hours, but theirs includes lunch, massage and breaks. My four hours was packed with work.

Examine the opportunities, the challenges you’ve given yourself.

I don’t always do a lot of predicting, but, when I get a really strong feeling about something, I will tell people.

They think because I’m small, they can do what they want to do to me. But I’m not weak. If I lower my shoulder and they lower they’re shoulder, they’re going to go down.

All my life I believed I became an athlete through my own determination, but it’s impossible to think that being descended from slaves hasn’t left an imprint through the generations.

Rivalries don’t necessarily mean races being close at major championships. I had a rivalry with Butch Reynolds for many years. I won all the races, but Butch was the world record holder before I came into the sport, he was extremely talented and he was the only other man running 43 seconds.

There’s a complete difference between training for a specific event and goal and just training.

I’ve had to learn that not everybody does things my way. But I do expect the absolute best of everyone around me, and I’m disappointed when people don’t expect that of themselves.