"I started playing soccer very late too. I didn't start playing for a club until I was 14. If you're really determined to achieve something and you believe you can do it or you work hard at it, it's possible no matter how old you are."

-- Turkish striker Ilhan Mansiz, who scored three goals at the 2002 World Cup, on his aim to compete at 2014 Winter Olympics in pair figure-skating. Mansiz, 35, retired from soccer in 2006 because of injury and in 2008 won a competition in a Turkish television show in which celebrities are paired up with professional ice-skaters. (Reuters)