Andere sporten

Muhammad Ali was veel meer dan gewoon een bokser. Hij was niet enkel een kei in de ring, maar op poëtisch vlak kon deze Amerikaanse woordkunstenaar ook heel wat slagen uitdelen. Tot op vandaag inspireert hij generaties jonge sporters met zijn levenswijsheid en arbeidsethos die hij in inmiddels mythische punchlines wist om te zetten. Vele uitspraken van 'The Greatest' prijken terecht op muren in verouderde en zweterige bokszalen, op posters in tienerkamers of zijn vereeuwigd met inkt op doorleefde mensenlichamen. Hebt u nood aan wat motivatie? We bieden u een overzicht van de mooiste verbale pareltjes die spraakwaterval Ali liet optekenen. Ready?

"I hated every minute of training, but I said, don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."

"If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it - then I can achieve it."

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."

"Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong." 

 "Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." 

"Often it isn't the mountains ahead that wear you out, it's the little pebble in your shoe."

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

"Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even."

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."

"The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life."

(SKWADRA by Tagtik/Picture: Belga)