Shields
CRICKET WORLD CUP
"I would like to sleep on my future as a coach. It's what I do best, what I try to do best. I'm not going to throw away coaching just like that."
- Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer following Pakistan's shock first-round exit on March 17.
Woolmer
"Robert Andrew Wool-mer has passed away today and the entire Pakistan team and management are shocked and saddened by his passing."
- Team spokesman Pervez Mir on March 18 after Woolmer died after being found unconscious in his Jamaican hotel room.
"The pathologist's report states that Mr. Woolmer's death was due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation. In these circumstances, the matter of Mr. Robert Woolmer's death is now being treated by the Jamaican police as a case of murder."
- Police statement read out on March 22 .
Less than three months later, Jamaican police backtracked and said Woolmer had died of 'natural causes'. The mystery remained unresolved after an inquest failed to determine his cause of death.
"Congrats Australia!" proclaimed the scoreboard prematurely at the Kensington Oval as the final between Australia and Sri Lanka ended in farcical conditions. Players were ordered back to the field to complete the three remaining overs in virtual darkness. Australia eventually completed a 53-run victory.
"There's no secret we had a few drinks ... there was water involved and a pedalo as well. But I don't think my life was in danger."
- England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff on his late-night drinking binge.
Flintoff
"Our residents have had some time to save."
- St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas defending the ticket prices, which started from US$25, despite the per capita annual income in the Caribbean nation being US$8,000.
"The ICC should be sued. They charge first-world prices in a third-world country."
- Antiguan resident Alexis Jacobs.
RUGBY WORLD CUP
"We went into South Africa with no direction, no shape and consequently no belief. It was the worst week I had known in international rugby."
- Mike Catt on England's performance in the pool stage before being forced to eat his words after being recalled and helping them to the final.
"Remember the look in the eyes of the Aussies and the Kiwis yesterday - I don't want to see that here."
- South Africa captain John Smit addresses his players as Fiji draw level and threaten another World Cup quarter-final exit.
It worked - South Africa went on to win and lifted the trophy two weeks later.
"To see the president of our country sitting on the players' shoulders holding the World Cup ... is something to be really proud of. It doesn't get bigger than that for us."
- South Africa coach Jake White.
Six weeks later, he was out of a job.
"I hope that being able to lift this cup and take it back home can create a scenario that everyone binds together and we start forgetting about counting numbers and colours."
- White on the issue that has dogged the game since the end of apartheid.
"The fact that 17 of France's 20 points came from the ref sums it up - we really won 18-3."
- A fan's Internet blog sums up the mood in New Zealand after their quarter-final defeat by hosts France.
MOTORSPORT
"McLaren got it wrong. They lost the championship for the mistaken decisions they made in the second part of the season. It isn't a secret that they haven't helped me much."
- 2005 and 2006 champion Fernando Alonso after the end of the season.
"It's been a crazy year and I honestly can't say I'm really, really gutted. I'm not."
- Lewis Hamilton after his bid to become the first rookie to win the F1 title evaporated in the season-ending Brazilian GP.
Alonso
"It's not going to really change my life too much."
- Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen on winning the title.
"If Hamilton wins the championship, he will also win it thanks to Ferrari because there is a lot of Ferrari in his car."
- Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo.
McLaren were fined a record US$100 million and stripped of all their constructors' points for having Ferrari data in their possession.
"My job is to win the world championship. My job isn't for people to love and hug me ... it's not a love-in. I want to have positive relationships with my drivers but it's difficult sometimes."
- McLaren boss, Ron Dennis.
TENNIS
"It's so surprising. Like, who can know that I can be injured and (would) retire in my match? I am disappointed, because I'm a top player and people are talking (about it) ... everywhere in the world."
Davydenko
- Nikolay Davydenko after his match against lowly-ranked Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello in Poland was voided by British online betting exchange Betfair because of unusual betting patterns, raising suspicions of match-fixing.
The Russian denied any wrongdoing.
"I have been accused by an outsource testing company of taking cocaine during the championships at Wimbledon. I find this accusation so horrendous, so monstrous, that I have decided to confront it head-on. I believe that I am absolutely, 100 per cent innocent. (But) accusations such as these don't exactly provide me with motivation ... I have decided to no longer play tennis on the Tour."
Sharapova
- Former world number one Martina Hingis stuns the tennis world with her announcement.
"I had never in my life felt so dreadful and I was really starting to get scared."
- Germany's Tommy Haas believing he had been poisoned during the Davis Cup semi-final in Moscow. Tests proved Haas' suspicions were unfounded.
"I feel like a cow on ice. Especially on clay."
- Maria Sharapova sums up her movement on her least-favourite surface.
SOCCER
"The style of how we play is very important. But it is omelettes and eggs. No eggs - no omelettes! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem"
- Jose Mourinho blames Chelsea's long injury list for a defeat in the Premier League in September.
He left the club just days later.
"Just as many times I have cried with the Iraqis, in this circumstance I rejoice with them."
- Pope Benedict after Iraq's unexpected triumph in the Asian Cup.
"I hope that Napoli win these last few games. You watch, if we go up I will do a striptease. The fans have a total passion, the city deserves promotion."
Napoli did win promotion back to Serie A but fan Sofia Loren reneged on her promise ... in public at least.
"Now, I will give up smoking. After a very difficult year, we have won something extraordinary so there is plenty of happiness and satisfaction. We did great things because there was little hope."
- AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti, who had promised his children he would stop smoking if they won the Champions League.
The Italians beat Liverpool in May's final.
GOLF
"Some players have psychologists, sportologists. I smoke."
- Argentina's Angel Cabrera, who repeatedly puffed on a cigarette en route to a one-shot victory at the U.S. Open at Oakmont.
"Today is one of the most special days in my life. This is a huge accomplishment for me, something that I have dreamed about since I was little."
- Mexico's Lorena Ochoa after replacing Annika Sorenstam as the women's world number one on April 23.
"It's hard to describe, it's unreal, especially in those quiet reflective moments when I am on my own. I was standing in the shower and I thought: 'I won the Open Championship'."
- Ireland's Padraig Harrington, the day after winning his first major title with a playoff victory in the British Open at Carnoustie.
CYCLING
"It's possible that I'm not a hero anymore. I'm sorry if I've disappointed people. And for those for whom I was a hero, I'm sorry. They'll have to find new heroes now."
- Denmark's 1996 Tour de France winner, Bjarne Riis, who admitted to having taken performance-enhancing substances between 1993 and 1998.
"I can sleep well at night knowing that I won the 2006 Tour de France fair and square."
- American Floyd Landis maintains his innocence after being stripped of the title and given a two-year ban for failing a dope test.
OTHER SPORTS
Benedict XVI
"It is with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust. I have let my country down and I have let myself down."
- American track athlete Marion Jones breaks down while admitting that she had used steroids in the run-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
She was subsequently stripped of the five medals, including three golds, she won in Sydney and banned for two years.
"It had nothing to do with money. I was simply having a lot of fun. It was exciting to be in the trenches, to be at these world championships and Olympics and Super Bowls and travel all over the world."
- Victor Conte, owner of the now defunct BALCO laboratory, on how he got involved with performance-enhancing drugs.
"I have suffered so many injuries and pain and don't want to go through this again."
- Quadruple Olympic champion Janica Kostelic, 25, of Croatia, announcing the end of one of the most successful Alpine ski race careers in history, in April.
