Eric Heiden quotes:

Cyclists, I work with a number of cyclists. They are great athletes; they are great aerobic athletes. If you ask them to hit a baseball or golf ball, they can't do that.

We had a party with the rest of the skaters in our trailer and then the next day we were off to see Jimmy Carter. And then we had the World Championships the next weekend, so not a lot of chance to catch up.

I have a very close friendship with the skaters.

I'm not a big fan of those who are egotistical and so outspoken.

One thing is having skated five of the best races I've probably could have skated. It was nice to peak at the right time and to do it in an important time in somebody's career.

Sports and politics don't mix.

How much you move affects your strength, your power, your balance, how you look, how you think, how well you withstand the high winds and rain showers of life and how long you will stand. Everyone needs concentrated doses of several kinds of movement to remain functional.

Immediately after the Olympics, I was pretty fatigued.

I didn't get into skating to be famous.

Then going out on the ice usually about 15 minutes before and certain things I would do for the different races, aspects that you run through your mind.

They're just big in the eyes of the American public.

It's not a sport you get famous at. If I wanted to be famous, I would have stuck with hockey.

When I was skating you had to participate in every thing.

I mean you got to thank your parents for giving you the right genes.

It is not the events in our life that define our character, but how we deal with them.

You got to get lucky because it lasts for a week and a lot of things can happen in a week.

In general, I enjoy athletes who have a strong character who let their abilities speak for themselves.

We never did a lot of weights, but a lot of repetitions. The most I would use doing squats was 300 pounds.

On today's athletes: I wish I could turn back the clock a little bit so I'd have a chance to cut it up with those guys.

You don't really want to load up a whole lot, probably anything more than four hours before the race. I needed something to make me feel full, but I certainly didn't want it to make me feel stuffed.

I had the drive to pursue speedskating and I found a sport that I was good at. If I'd got into cycling, I would just be another has been.

I would recommend anybody who gets a chance to see short track skating, make it a point to go out there when Apolo is skating because you won't see anybody better.

I really liked it best when I was a nobody.

I'd rather get a nice warmup suit. That's something I can use. Gold medals just sit there. When I get old, maybe I could sell them if I need the money.