The Wanda Diamond League returned in style in 2021, with countless records and historic moments across 12 meetings and three continents. But it wasn't just on the track that the athletes impressed - the return to full competitive action and the intensity of an Olympic year also seemed to have sharpened a few tongues. From sprinters sticking it to the patriarchy to Mondo Duplantis' unorthodox views on chocolate, we've picked out some of the very best quotes of the 2021 season.
"We athletes are human." - Sha'Carri Richardson
2021 was a turbulent year for the rising US sprint star, as she missed out on Olympic action after a blistering start to the season. Never afraid to speak her mind, the 21-year-old began her Diamond League career with some powerful words on athletes' mental wellbeing at the press conference ahead of the season opener in Gateshead. "
"We athletes are human, we still have our battles and our lives," she said. "I would tell people who are battling mental health issues is that you have to be willing to acknowledge the fact you need help."
"It would be sad if my first race was the best." - Karsten Warholm
400m hurdles star Karsten Warholm made the dreamiest of all dream starts to his Diamond League season in Oslo on July 1st, breaking a three-decade old world record on home soil in his first race on the circuit this year. Asked whether it would take another world record to win the Olympic final the following month, he replied: "It might do." Then, with typical bravado, he insisted he was up for the challenge: "It would be sad if my first race was the best."
As it turned out, it wasn't. Warholm took almost a whole second off his world record with a new best of 45.94 in the Olympic final, and went on to defend his Diamond League title at the final in Zurich in September. Not a bad year all round.
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"It's not just a man's world, it's a woman's world." - Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is a legend. If anyone was in any doubt about that before 2021, they won't be anymore. The Jamaican sprint star may have come away from this season without the Olympic or Diamond League titles, but she still ran some of the fastest times of her career at the age of 34. As she told reporters in Paris, she is proud not only to be one of the greatest sprinters in history, but also to be confouding expectations of motherhood and what women are capable of.
"It's amazing for me to be able to achieve the things I have after giving birth to my son and after turning 30," she said. "Everybody automatically believes that, as a woman, that's when you give up your dreams and what you believe in. But it's not just a man's world, it's a woman's world."
"It's amazing to know that women are dominating" - Elaine Thompson-Herah
Fraser-Pryce wasn't the only one sticking it to the patriarchy on the Diamond League circuit this year. Her great rival and compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah was also putting the men's sprints in the shade with her heroics on both the WDL circuit and at the Olympics. After running the second-fastest time ever with 10.54 in Eugene, she spoke of a victory for equality.
"It's amazing to know that women are dominating. Often, even when we are domianting, people still just talk about the men. For me its all about equality and I'm happy to be among these ladies in the history books," she said.
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"I have a lot of respect for Belgian chocolate" - Mondo Duplantis
Mondo Duplantis also wrote himself into the history books this season, adding a first Diamond Trophy and Olympic gold medal to his world records from 2020. The Swedish pole vaulter was in fine form throughout the year, regularly clearing six metres on his way to the final in Zurich. He also had a few things to say off the track, including a bold assertion at the Brussels press conference that Sweden was home to the finest chocolate in Europe. Not wishing to offend his hosts and perhaps with one eye on an upcoming trip to Switzerland, he later equivocated. "I have a lot of respect for Belgian chocolate," he assured the Belgian interviewer. Diplomatic crisis averted.
"I have a lot of respect for Belgian chocolate"@mondohoss600 charming his hosts.#DiamondLeague#BrusselsDLpic.twitter.com/QhdMvnk2NV
— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) September 2, 2021