All pressure is self-inflicted. It's what you make of it or how you let it rub off on you.

I'm not sure there are enough coaches in the system that can take young talent and consistently get them into the top five in the world.

There may be problems we still need to tease out, but we will leave no stone unturned in our bid to make London the host city.

World records are only borrowed.

Everybody recognises that giving young people competitive outlet through sport is a very good thing.

I actually don't believe in big government, and half the time I'm never quite sure I believe in government, generally.

Our success in Singapore was a Herculean effort by the whole team. Now I am determined to deliver on all we promised. I will be watching like a hawk.

Quite simply the Games are the biggest opportunity sport in this country has ever had. It is one that we must not squander.

Sport is a universal language, building more bridges between people than anything else I can think of.

We need to be confident. We need not to blink.

I do genuinely believe that young people who play sport at a competitive level, sensibly controlled, sensibly organised, that has to be a good thing. It will teach them to win, it will teach them to lose with dignity and magnanimity - all the things you want. It's a pretty good metaphor for life.

I think I'm probably just an old-fashioned Tory. I don't wake up each morning trying to figure out what kind of Conservative I am; for me it's quite instinctive.

I've never sent an email in my life. My kids laugh. I often hand the phone to them and say, 'Can you text this message to somebody.' I don't even have a computer on my desk.

It is really important that we promote competitive support in schools. It is very important that we recognise that has to be underpinned by good quality physical education and by getting people into patterns of exercise.

The great thing about athletics is that it's like poker sometimes: you know what's in your hand, and it may be a load of rubbish, but you've got to keep up the front.

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.

To anyone who has started out on a long campaign believing that the gold medal was destined for him, the feeling when, all of a sudden, the medal has gone somewhere else is quite indescribable.