Sports quotes of 2006

By Pritha Sarkar

QUOTES: LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The 2006 sporting year in quotes:

Soccer World Cup

"The whole nation has admiration and affection for you, and respects you. You are a virtuoso, a genius of world football.

You are also a man of heart, commitment, conviction. That's why France loves and admires you" - French president Jacques Chirac to Zinedine Zidane, the day after Zidane was sent off in the World Cup final for head-butting Italy's Marco Materazzi in the chest. "I do apologise but I don't regret my behaviour because regretting it would mean he was right to say what he said. I heard the words once, then twice, and the third time I couldn't control myself" - Zidane.

"I did not call him a terrorist, I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means" - Materazzi, who later admitted he had insulted Zidane's sister.

"We've shown we are great footballers, not criminals" - Alessandro Del Piero of Juventus and Italy as the match-fixing scandal reached its climax and Italy won the World Cup. "This game is not mathematics. It is football and in football two plus two rarely equals four. Sometimes it's three.

Often it's five" - Dutchman Leo Beenhakker, the coach of Trinidad & Tobago, philosophises during the finals.

Turin Winter Olympics

"What I find really terrible is to organise this kind of manhunt on one person where one is really being hunted like Osama bin Laden. It is not comparable" - skier Hermann Maier on the hunt for former Austrian biathlon coach Walter Mayer who fled the Games after doping raids.

"I got to party and socialise at an Olympic level" - Alpine skier Bode Miller, the 2005 overall World Cup champion, on his Olympic achievements after arriving in Turin as the great American hope but leaving without a medal.

"I always ski good when I'm sick" - Croatia's Janica Kostelic, who won the women's combined but pulled out of the downhill and giant slalom due to illness.

"We've been to more than one pizza place, it is excellent...but it's not like mine. Mine's different than most. Our crust is a little bit thicker, our sauce is a little bit spicier and there are a few more ingredients on the top" - American curling bronze medallist Pete Fenson, owner of two pizzerias in Minnesota. "That's an okay sacrifice for the gold. You can always get new teeth" - Finnish ice hockey player Teemu Selanne who lost three teeth when he was hit by a puck during a quarter-final against the United States.

Soccer

"When I heard 55,000 pounds, I almost swerved off the road" - Ashley Cole on being told Arsenal were prepared to offer him "only" 55,000 pounds ($107,900) a week rather than the 60,000 pounds he said he had been promised. He later joined Chelsea.

"When I score goals I am great, when I don't I am fat" - Real Madrid's Brazilian striker Ronaldo discussing his treatment by the Spanish press.

"These days, our opponents are quaking in their boots when they look at our line-up" - French defender William Gallas. The next day Scotland beat France 1-0.

Golf

"If you look at it overall, I've had a pretty good year. Two majors in there, as well as a couple of World Golf Championships. But if you take into account what happened off the golf course, it's my worst year...I consider it as a loss.

In the grand scheme of things, golf doesn't even compare to losing a parent" - World number one Tiger Woods, whose father Earl died in May, puts his season in perspective after winning his ninth victory of 2006 and sixth consecutive PGA Tour title at the WGC-American Express Championship in October.

"Tiger is the best golfer in the world because he's got the best brain. He hits the ball well, but there's plenty of guys who hit the ball well. He's probably got the second best head in history next to Jack (Nicklaus) and it might turn out that Tiger's might be more impressive than Jack's" - U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy on Woods's mental strength.

"We have got strength and depth for a long time to come and I think the future of the Ryder Cup is going to look great for Europe" - European captain Ian Woosnam after his team crushed the U.S. by a record-equalling margin of 18-1/2 points to 9-1/2.

Tennis

"I have a bunch of half-naked women. He has a bunch of men.

I know who I'd rather have dinner with me" - Andy Roddick believes his bikini-clad supporters will more be than a match for Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis's large contingent of male supporters at the Australian Open.

"It feels like you're in the Sahara and you just see the hills and there's no ending" - American Kevin Kim on facing Rafael Nadal during a second-round French Open hammering.

"I don't want anybody to talk about my nerves any more" - France's Amelie Mauresmo hopes criticism about her fragile nerves can be laid to rest after she wins her second grand slam of the year at Wimbledon.

"I am out of words really to describe this performance...it was the perfect end to an incredible season. There's not much more I could have done (this year). To come out like this, on top, I surprised even myself, no doubt" - Wimbledon, Australian Open and French Open champion Roger Federer after claiming his 12th title of the year at the Masters Cup.

"You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could never have reached without you. Over the last 21 years I have found you and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life" - Andre Agassi to fans at the U.S. Open after playing his final match.

Motor Racing

"That's life. It has its ups and downs. That's what makes it so interesting. Life would be so boring if there were only ups" - Ferrari's Michael Schumacher after engine failure at Suzuka destroyed his hopes of retiring with an eighth title. "Thank you, thank you for all these years. It has been a pleasure to work with you" - Fernando Alonso on the team radio after winning the title in Brazil in his last race for Renault before joining McLaren.

Cricket

"I am prepared to retire/stand down/relinquish my position on the elite (umpires') panel to take effect from August 31 2006. This payment is to be the sum of $500,000, details of which must be kept confidential by both parties" - Australian umpire Darrell Hair offers to quit in a letter to the International Cricket Council following the Pakistan ball tampering controversy.

"Pakistan has had a problem with (Hair's) attitude... he was a time-bomb waiting to go off and it went off" - Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan.

"We took a stand for the prestige and honour of the country and it has been vindicated today" - Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq after being cleared of the ball-tampering charges made against his team by Hair during the fourth test against England. The accusation led to Pakistan becoming the first nation to forfeit a test.

Athletics

"I have put my faith in a system that I believe will clear my name and that I believe will allow me to compete again" - Olympic and world 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin in August after being given an eight-year ban pending an arbitration hearing for a positive test for testosterone.

Cycling

"The image of your sport and right now your flagship event (the Tour de France) is in the toilet and you've got to do something about it or the risk is that your sport will be ignored by everybody, marginalised by others and it won't be sport any more" - WADA chairman Dick Pound in July after nine riders were withdrawn on the eve of the race because they had been implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.

"I know a lot of people are going to think I'm guilty before I have a chance to defend myself. All I'm asking for is that I be given what everybody in America is accustomed to - innocent until proven guilty, rather than the way cycling is normally treated" - Tour winner Floyd Landis after it was announced that he had tested positive for testosterone during the race. "For us, he cannot be the Tour de France winner any more" - Tour director Christian Prudhomme in August. "Technically we cannot say he has lost his title but he has soiled the yellow jersey."