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My overwhelming concern will always be the well-being of the athletes. In Olympic sport, it is rare for competitors not to devote half their young life to this. Their families will have given up all sorts of things to allow them to do that.

Support the athlete, encourage the team, help the coach. That's what good track parents do.

If you look at any superior athlete, you will find a strong parental influence. Parents introduce their children to a sport, and then they support them.

We need to make sure parents and coaches are aware of the dangers an on the look-out for the warning signs. Performance enhancing drugs are too damaging to young people for parents and coaches to not be involved.

It is not the time spent with the child at their activity that is going to produce the highest level athlete. It is in supporting the child in an organized activity - and Bill alluded to this - so the child can find what they truly like to do and let them go.

Athletes know kids look up to them, and it's important for athletes to be responsible.

Not every child is cut out for an individual sport.

There's an adage that a lot of coaches have, that I completely disagree with, is if you make the Olympic team too early you become complacent.

Any parent who tells their kids that they can't attend a school play or go to a soccer match because they have to work is kidding themselves. It's OK to miss a game or two or a performance here and there, but it's not all right to miss the majority of them.

As a parent, you have to be good coach and bad coach, and I think in the college-application process, I didn't want to be bad coach. 'This is amazing! I'm so proud of you!' That's the role I wanted with my kids.