The roar of the crowd when you come out for a final is like nothing else: when 15,000 people are cheering you, a lot of adrenaline goes right through you.
How can you get bored if the audience is cheering and laughing at something you're doing?
When I was going off to training and matches at Arsenal, my mum wouldn't be on the side cheering me on: she'd be working so I'd have football boots. I saw that you had to work hard if you wanted to do anything in life.
As you approach the finish line, you go through a tunnel of people, all of them cheering and encouraging you. Then I heard the speaker say, 'Alessandro Zanardi, you are an Ironman!' It was something phenomenal, something amazing... I got very emotional at that point.
The one cheering aspect of 'Daughters of Britannia' is the extraordinary tenacity and resilience of Hickman's women.
After all these years, I'm finally into soccer. The World Cup is on, and my band is an international group - they're all around me, cheering in the hotel bars.
The first time I won a medal at a female wrestling tournament, all of the other girls there had coaches and family members cheering them on. I went in alone, said nothing, wrestled three girls and beat three girls - convincingly.
I like hanging out with retired Gronk cause we get a lot more time together, but I miss going to the games, and dressing up, and suitin' up, and cheering him on.
I looked in the audience. There were no strangers. Everybody was singing and cheering and hugging. That was a beautiful picture to look at.
There is Rio in 2016, but it won't be the same as going to London and hearing 24,000 people - nearly all British - cheering, stamping their feet, and screaming your name.
