Herb Elliott Quotations

The single biggest change in middle-distance running, from the 1500 metres to 10,000 metres, has been the track surface.

The greatest stimulator of my running career was fear.

I hadn't a clue who I was racing against. All I knew was how I was going to race.

I have never been a killer. I'm not an aggressive personality and if I can remember any emotion I felt during a race it was fear. The greatest stimulator of my running was fear.

I had a dual goal in my running that was to win and to achieve excellence, so I was never happy with a slow tactical time. If the race were slow I would get in front and pull it up again. I couldn't stand a slow race. A lot of people seem to get screwed up on tactics. There is only one tactic in a race and that is to always be in a position where you can win it.

The important thing is the attitude of the athlete, the desire to get to the top.

Training was a time where resolutions made in the enthusiasm of an inspired moment were put to personal test.

Poetry, music, forests, oceans, solitude-they were what developed enormous spiritual strength. I came to realize that spirit, as much or more than physical conditioning, had to be stored up before a race.

It is the inspiration of the Olympic Games that drives people not only to compete but to improve, and to bring lasting spiritual and moral benefits to the athlete and inspiration to those lucky enough to witness the athletic dedication.

The only tactics I admire are do-or-die