Players become champions because their response to adversity is always to fight, to seek to vanquish, to look it in the eye and say, “You think I can’t?” You and I may not always understand that, because at some point we might have accepted limitations, might have bowed to the situation. But champions don’t. They are not only gifted but are aware of their gifts — there’s a fundamental difference — and use them as weapons to win battles. To overcome, to defeat, these are intoxicants that champions live on. There is an apparent limitlessness to their ability, an audacity to their thinking.

Harsha Bhogle

P.S. Harsha Bhogle wrote this in a post where he discusses the then-growing clamour for Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement from the game of cricket. You can read it here in its entirety.