"When I first started racing in Formula Ford there was a guy who said: `That Irvine will never make a racing driver as long as he's got a hole in his arse' - and I proved him wrong. I've done the same today." -

Eddie Irvine after winning the Austrian Grand Prix.

"Maybe I will blow it, maybe I will win it - but I aim to enjoy it." -

French golfer Jean Van de Velde speaking, somewhat prophetically, before the final round of the British Open.

"The ball was sinking, telling me: `Hey, you mad man, not for you, not today'. It was then three inches in the water and at that moment there was no hope." -

Van de Velde, who had a three-shot lead going into the last hole, after blowing the British Open.

"It was silly and I told him that he should have played for safety." -

Brigitte Van de Velde on her husband's `mishandling' of the final hole.

"It's hard to part from what you love so much, but I always gave it as much as I had. Now I want a life." -

Steffi Graf on her retirement from tennis.

"Don't always be looking at the end result lads, enjoy the road a little. That was one of the greatest spins you could have there today. Good road, breathtaking scenery, the lot." -

Clare manager Ger Loughnane after his county's epic win over Galway in the All-Ireland quarter finals.

"The classic case of the male inadequacy syndrome. He's got all the extensions to enlarge his manhood." -

Formula One driver David Coulthard responds to Eddie Irvine's boast that he is a far superior driver, by alleging that the Ulster man's fondness of "boys' toys" suggests he, em, "lacks" in other areas.

"My victory is a miracle, a miracle of medicine. I accept that winning this race is a miracle, but I repeat that I do not take any drugs at all." -

Lance Armstrong after his victory at the Tour de France, three years after surviving testicular cancer.