"I want to buy a house for my parents. I hope the others don't win. I need a lot of money. My parents deserve a big house."

- Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, the 1,500 metres world champion, on the £1 million on offer at the Grand Prix final in Moscow.

"Money has become his god. He is kidding everyone. All he wants to hear is . . . praise and having yes-men around him."

- Irish trainer Brendan Ingle talks about his World champion boxer Naseem Hamed in a recently published book.

"I feel that my best days are behind me at this stage."

- Kilkenny's D J Carey (27) talks about his hurling career.

"People are really missing why I did this book. This is about alcoholism, my disease. Two years ago I was dead."

- Arsenal and England defender Tony Adams tackling the fall-out from his book.