I was a true amateur and embodied what the Olympic spirit is all about. To me, competing was all that mattered.

If you have got a dream and you've got ambition, then go for it. You know, unless you try, you'll never know.

Both parents were hard-working and made me work for my pocket money by doing household chores. That taught me the value of money and gave me a strong work ethic.

If there were some people who considered me a joke, I'm sorry about that. But I did not do it for any other reason except that I loved to ski jump, and I had hopes that by my doing it, other people in my country would take up the sport.

That James Bond movie? The one where Bond skis off a cliff, shucks his skis, and parachutes to the ground? That's for me. That's what I want to be. A stuntman in a Bond movie.

In my case, there are only two kinds of hope - Bob Hope and no hope.

I've never really let any kind of negative things affect me, generally. I would take a positive out of the most desperately horrible situation.

I made my dream come true despite all the obstacles - no money, no training, no skis, no snow.

I had no money, no training facilities, no snow, no ski jumps, no trainer, but I still managed to ski jump for my country - and getting there was my gold medal.

I'm the Eagle: I can fly.

Maybe I am a little bit of a clown, but I am also a serious sportsman.

Getting to the Olympic Games was my gold medal.

After my ski jumping career finished, I went back to school to study law, and now I travel between five to 20 times a year doing after-dinner speaking, motivational talks, appearances, openings, TV and radio shows.

Resilience can go an awful long way.

Where is it written that the Olympics are only for winners?

I wish they'd build a ski jump at the Grand Canyon; it'd be fantastic.

I play this game to win.

You play to win a ring.

My role is to go out there and help the team in any way possible.

I was a good athlete, a good baseball player. A great baseball player, I should say.

I come from New York. It's busy. It's populated. It's noisy. It's loud.

I keep a small - a very, very, very small circle. It's just me and my mom and my sister. And maybe Chris Paul.

I never give myself enough credit.

In baseball I was pretty cocky.