Brian O'Driscoll

Athlete

1979-01-21

Irish former professional rugby union player who captained Ireland and the British & Irish Lions. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest centers in rugby history. His career had major impact on modern Irish rugby.

Books by Brian O'Driscoll

A Year in the Centre
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The test
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Quotes by Brian O'Driscoll

When you are captain, you are never speaking for yourself.
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The victory is always sweeter... winning things with friends.
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The great thing about playing team sport is you win and lose together, and the pain is never as bad when you share it.
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Team sports are very important for shaping personalities. It's important that kids understand the mentality behind playing team sports and playing for one another and playing with friends.
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Everyone has tests in their life. They come in lots of different forms. I had two or three together, which definitely challenged me as a person and as a sportsman. The big thing is how you react to those situations. You want to come out positively at the other end, and that's what I focused on doing.
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I don't care that people thought I was one way for my whole career because now that I am not attached to a team, I can have my own opinion, I can have my own voice. I can link myself to my own thought process rather than a generic message most teams try to get across.
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The 2001 tour to Australia would have been a great highlight in my career if the Lions had won the series. That might sound strange because it was a great tour in many ways, but, for me, the more time goes by, the less of a career highlight it becomes, and just more of a frustration.
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Rugby gave me a confidence. I was quite shy and relatively timid, but it gave me the confidence to be a little bit more out-going and back myself a bit more.
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There have been a couple of things I've been involved in launching that have been a bit more public, but I've always had other things tipping away in the background.
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Games bring another level out in you. There is no way you can train to the same intensity when you are playing a game. It is just impossible. Your head won't allow you to do it. Because the adrenalin of a game and the importance of it steps it up to another level.
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It's happened a couple of times in training when I hyper-extend my back. Some facet joints send all the muscles in my lower back and lumbar-spine into spasm.
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I was quite small as a kid and maybe a little afraid physically. When I grew into myself, the realisation changed. That when you hurt yourself, it's transient; it doesn't stay forever.
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As the summer moves on, there are Saturday nights when I come home and find friends I haven't even been out with sitting up in the hot tub.
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When you talk to family and friends, they can't tell you anything from an impartial point of view because they have a vested interest in you.
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Being recognised by Guinness World Records in their 60th year is a real honour. It's also a real privilege for me to be positioned beside such sporting greats.
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Practise things you're good at. Keep on top of things you're not so good at, but be world-class at your best. Never think, 'I'm very good at this and that, I can leave those for a bit.'
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