To Be the Best

W A S H I N G T O N, July 27, 2001 -- What does it take to be the best? As Lance Armstrong heads into Paris, set to win his third-straight Tour de France bicycle race, we'll look at other people who represent the best in their game, from professional athletes to musicians to chefs — even a six-time pizza-making title-holder. They all dominate their fields, but what do they have that others do not? Tonight on Nightline, we'll ask what it's like to be best — and have everyone else gunning for you.

Christine Brennan, Sports Columnist: "The word fail is probably not even in the vocabulary. The word fail has never been uttered by these people. We bring it up later. Did you think you were going to fail? Did you ever think, what if I don't make this? And more often than not, the greatest of all athletes look at you, kind of like, 'Fail?' It's almost like I just asked a question in a foreign language. 'What do you mean fail?'"

Waheed Aswim, seven-time Champion of Domino's World Fastest Pizza Maker Contest: "I'm hungry. I like winning. I'm very ambitious. I'm very passionate about what I do. I love making pizza. That's why I do it. So I go there and I mentally prepare myself, that I am the best, I am the greatest, you know. I have won the contest more than anybody in the Domino's Pizza history, not only in Domino's, but I'm the best pizza maker in the pizza industry. So I believe in that. I tell it to myself and I believe in it. And I go there, and I get results."

Made 14 perfect pizzas in 2 minutes and 35 seconds at this year's competition

Mario Andretti, race car champ: "Well, to be number one is just that. Imagine how many people you have to be better of to be number one if you want to be the best at that particular time. Obviously, it's quite an enormous task because, again, you're going up against people that have met, maybe, very much similar goals and similar aspirations, and you have to be one better. You have to be better than all of them. That's why it's so tough. That's why so few people really, really, ultimately realize their goals. But, again, a very important aspect of all of this is to be able to just accept nothing less than that."

Driver of the Century and only driver to win races in five decades

Joshua Bell, violin prodigy and concert star: "There's so many factors that go into being successful or good at something. I think a lot of it is just innate talent, you're just kind of born with a certain ability. But then of course there's all those other elements. You have to have the drive, you have to have people that are around you, encouraging you."

Made his professional violin debut at the age of 14 with the Philadelphia Orchestra

Sugar Ray Leonard, boxing champion: "Well, I think one of the key things for me was to win, decisively, to win, convincingly, to win in style, to win with grace, to out-think the opposition, to out-maneuver the opposition, and I've always taken great pride in doing those things."

Won World Championship titles in five different weight classes

Bill Russell, professional basketball Hall of Famer: "There's a phrase that I used to use: The game's on the schedule, we have to play it, we might as well win it. You're going to be just as tired if you lose as if you win. So why not just win — go ahead and take that energy and win it, and then you don't have to listen to the coach yelling at you all night."

Named Greatest Player in History of the NBA by the Professional Basketball Writers Association

Edwin Moses, Olympic track star: "When the gun goes off, you definitely enter a zone where everything is on idle drive. You really don't have to do that much thinking, or at least I didn't. I didn't know what my competitors were doing. But when I got to a race, everything was on automatic. All I had to do was get to the start line and good position, and things would go well."

Won two Olympic gold medals (1976 and 1984) and won 122 consecutive races from 1977 to 1987

Charles Trotter, five-star chef of Charlie Trotter's in Chicago: "You've got to be so focused and obsessed on what you're doing that it's basically all you think about. In fact if you were any more concerned or obsessed with it, it might even be perverse. But if you were any less so, it wouldn't be enough."

James Beard Foundation's Best Chef (1999) and Outstanding Restaurant (2000)

Arlene Lenarz, top Mary Kay cosmetics saleswoman: "I think the thing that probably makes a difference is really your work ethic. How big you think. If you're able to cast a vision to other people. Surrounding yourself with people who really want what you want, and being totally committed to your goals. If at first you don't succeed, you try, try again. Persistence, I found, is just really a joy when you're doing what you like to do."

Lionel Tiger, anthropologist: "Nobody goes into these pursuits, be it cooking or driving a bicycle or whatever, in order to be number two. That's very basically, I think, an intrinsic feature of human beings. Athletes, performers — I gather chefs, in your case, on this program — are individuals who want to make a mark, make a difference, make a point. Part of that comes out of a zeal for and a love for and an affection for excellence as such, for accomplishment, for being able to do the dance, ride the bike, do whatever is necessary. But also, and this is critical to sports, the issue is one of winning."