The Irish: "I ran crap and I'm out," - David Gillick on being asked what went wrong in his 400m heat.
"I can't complain, I've been riding my luck to just get through each heat to the final."
- Eoin Rheinisch refusing to feel hard done by when he finished fourth in the Kayak K1 Slalom final.
"At this point, it just feels like another championship. It's just like being in Mosney all over the again - only for grown-ups."
- Róisín McGettigan after qualifying for the final of the 3,000m steeplechase.
"Prominent names in this sport are sitting in Ireland and are talking about how we are not great like they used to be . . . it's about time they acknowledged us instead of putting us down to make themselves look like legends."
- Alistair Cragg sends best wishes to . . .
"I think they should be dancing in the streets of Athenry because they've reared the fastest white man in the world."
- Bill O'Herlihy after Paul Hession reached the semi-final of the 200m.
The Swimmer
"I don't even know what to feel right now. There are so many emotions going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom."
- Michael Phelps after his eighth medal.
"With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination."
- Phelps.
"Eat, sleep and swim, that's all I can do."
- Phelps on his limited abilities.
"He is just a normal person, although he may be from a different planet. A planet from another galaxy."
- Russia's Alexander Sukhorukov.
The Sprinter
"It wasn't easy at all. It may look easy, but it was hard."
- Usain Bolt on his three gold medals. Looked easy enough to us.
"I never had breakfast. I woke up around 11, I watched television and then I had some (chicken) nuggets for lunch. I went back to my room, I slept for two hours, I went back for some more nuggets and came to the track."
- Bolt on his scientific pre-race routine on the day he broke the 100m world record.
"That is perfection, there's nothing else to figure out."
- Michael Johnson after Bolt broke his 200m record.
"I can't stop people doubting . . . but in the world people come along who are exceptional. You have Einstein, you have Isaac Newton, you have Beethoven - you have Usain Bolt."
- Stephen Francis (coach of Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell).
The Horse
"I worked 15 years to get there. I didn't go to the Olympics hoping to come 17th or 24th, or whatever. I went there with a realistic chance of a medal. And then to be shot down like this. . ."
- Denis Lynch after Lantinus tested positive for a banned substance.
Peter Collins: "Somebody is guilty of doing this."
Eamon Coughlan: "Well, it's certainly not the horse."
"I am sick and tired of our name being dragged through the mud like this. I am deeply ashamed of what happened. In my IOC hotel I have even been subjected to snide remarks from my colleagues saying that Ireland is at it again."
- OCI president Pat Hickey.
"Sitting where I am in Hong Kong, it is difficult to imagine anything worse. We are on our knees here."
- Damian McDonald, chief executive of Horse Sport Ireland.
The Boxers
"All the hard training is important, the diet, all of that. It's like a big jigsaw. But the biggest piece is the head. Upstairs. If you're right in the head, you're laughing. And everything is perfect."
- Kenny Egan.
"We've a good team, you know, we're not a bad little country for fighting."
- Irish coach Billy Walsh.
"Here I am in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games, I've no injuries, I'm still handsome, I'm flying."
- Egan again.
"Olympic bronze medal? Come on, that's amazing!"
- Darren Sutherland, dismissing the notion that he should be disappointed after losing his semi-final.
"There's no doubt I lost the fight by miles, but not scoring a point? I'm getting drug tested here, it's the judges who should be getting drug tested. But we're in China, so what do you expect?"
- Paddy Barnes after not being credited with a single point in his semi-final.
"They can keep the bronze medal for all I care, I don't want it. What's a bronze medal? It's for losers - you know what I mean?"
- Barnes again. Mercifully, though, he turned up to collect his bronze.
The Disappointed
"I have to bear the responsibility and I think that I should slit my belly to apologise."
- Japan's judo coach, Hitoshi Saito, after his country won just the two medals.
"The referee is an a**hole, as far as I'm concerned. The Hungarian player has hold of us and we get excluded? That's just total bullshit as far as I'm concerned. I'd like to kill the bastard."
- Greg McFadden, coach of Australia's women's water polo team, after their 7-7 draw with Hungary.
The Elated
"I just kept it in my head that my Dear General's eyes would be watching over me, and that encouraged me to lift this weight. I am overjoyed by the fact that I have brought great joy to our Dear Leader."
- Pak Hyon Suk after winning gold in the weightlifting for North Korea - and Kim Jong-Il.
The Neighbours
"Maybe we missed this, but we weren't aware that whingeing is an Olympic sport. Nor is dentist-dodging, beer-heating or glassing blokes in pubs. Take those activities out of the equation and Britain's medal potential begins to shrink a little."
- Columnist in the Australian Daily Telegraphdismissing Britain's chances of a significant medal haul. Uh oh.
"I didn't know the English were good at swimming. I've been in this country for 12 years and I haven't seen a swimming pool."
- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
"They've won 40 per cent of their medals in cycling - if only there was snooker, darts and a dog show."
- NBC presenter Jim Lampley.
"The English, population 60 million, have won nine gold medals at these Games. Australia, with a third of the population, has 11 golds thus far. The other seven claimed by the Poms were in fact won under the nonsensical banner of Great Britain with the help of the Scots and Welsh and a cyclist who was born in Belgium to an Australian father whose genes were obviously passed on."
- Australian sports writer Robert Lusetich.
