Memorable quotes from the London Olympics

LONDON:
Following are some of the fun and memorable quotes from the London Olympics:

"The headgear... it kept falling down over my eyes. Then my contacts fell out in the first round, so I was having to wait for my opponent to get a little closer so I could throw my shots."

Flyweight Rau'shee Warren, the first American boxer to compete in three Games, rues the latest loss in his eight-year Olympic losing streak.

"(I) grab the chimp by the scruff of the neck and get it into a box. I know their chimps really well."

Team GB's cycling "head" coach Steve Peters talks about helping athletes deal with mental "chimps" and "gremlins" to attain peak performance.

"I hope that this medal inspires the kids at home to put down guns and knives and pick up a pair of trainers instead. If they do that, I will be the happiest guy in the world."

Erick Barrondo, winner of Guatemala's first-ever Olympic medal with silver in the men's 20-kilometre race walk.

"My mother used to tell us in the mornings, 'Carl put on your shoes, Oscar you put on your prosthetic legs ...So I grew up not really thinking I had a disability. I grew up thinking I had different shoes."

South African runner Oscar Pistorius, nicknamed 'Blade Runner' because he races on carbon fibre prosthetic blades, talks about growing up playing sports with brother Carl.

"I understand it because the Chinese always win, and maybe some people think this not good for table tennis. I don't think so. We always win because we work much harder than the others."

Chinese women's table tennis coach Shi Zhihao gives his take on rules limiting each country to two players aimed at curbing China's domination of the sport. It was China versus China in the women's singles final.

"Good evening, Mr Bond."

The 86-year-old Queen Elizabeth makes her film debut in a clip with James Bond star Daniel Craig shown as part of the quirky opening ceremony.

"The female body is a masterpiece. Everyone likes to look at the female body, especially in dynamic, athletic sport."

Natalie Cook, gold medallist at Sydney in 2000, defends bikinis in beach volleyball.

"The excitement is growing so much I think the Geiger counter of Olympo-mania is going to go 'zoink' off the scale."

London Mayor Boris Johnson is characteristically effusive in summing up the mood at an Olympics concert in London's Hyde Park.

"There are many people who want to start rowing because I have come to the Olympic Games. We will start when I get back. We just have to wait for the boats to arrive."

Wildcard Niger rower Hamadou Djibo Issaka trained for just three months for the men's single sculls, but never in his landlocked and mostly desert country.

"When baby kicks, I will breathe in and breathe out and try to calm myself down and talk to baby: 'Behave yourself and help mummy to shoot!'"

Eight months pregnant, Malaysia's Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi later said she felt "three or four kicks" during 10-metre air rifle qualifying.

"My results come from hard work and training and I would never use any banned drugs. The Chinese people have clean hands."

Chinese swimming sensation Ye Shiwen brushes aside doping suspicions raised after the 16-year-old set a world record to win the women's 400-metre individual medley.

"Some of you will be baffled, I can guarantee it ... I hope you enjoy that kind of Liquorice Allsorts of things. Many of you won't understand that reference, either."

Director Danny Boyle prepares international journalists for the opening ceremony he devised.

"Having been soundly beaten by Ariel since she was nine, I can certainly attest to her talent."

Billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is humbled by Ariel Hsing, the now 16-year-old US women's table tennis player who calls him "Uncle Bill".

"Had I won the gold medal, I would have retired."

Roger Bannister, famous for running a mile in under four minutes in 1954, reveals he might have quit two years earlier had he not missed out on the medals at the Helsinki Olympics.

"I said 'The medal is there, we have to take it'. I had a super feeling. I felt something big, but now I feel something even bigger, a big pain."

Injured Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara rues a crash in the men's road race.

'Inspire a generation' is our motto. Not necessarily 'Create a generation', which is what they sometimes get up to in the Olympic village."

London Mayor Boris Johnson extols the "energy and enthusiasm" of the Games' 10,000 athletes, to whom some 150,000 condoms have been distributed.

"It's tough. It's not ballet."

Six foot 5 inch (1.96 metre) Croatian water polo player Miho Boskovic clutches a bag of ice to his elbow as he describes the sport following a tough comeback win over Greece.

"We were getting rather frustrated with Transport for London at one point and discussed internally trying to get on a bus with a coffin."

London funeral director John Cribb expresses frustration at the special road lanes set aside for Olympic vehicles.