Daley Thompson Quotes
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Kids have been let down by adults - we've tried to give them too much, we've tried not to impose discipline. We've tried to make their lives easier and, in doing so, we've taken something away from them. Kids like boundaries, they also like to be pushed, need to learn what failure is all about, need guidance.
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I wouldn't swap the era I competed in for anything, not a day of it. I started out as an amateur, and people like myself, Seb Coe, Steve Ovett, Steve Cram, Tessa Sanderson and the rest did it for the glory of winning medals for our country.
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Sport and health are so important to our nation that they deserve to be right at the front of people's minds.
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I was in the doldrums for a while after my athletics career ended in 1992. I spent six to eight hours a day training, for 18 years, and it took a long time to get over the regret that I wasn't competing in major championships any more. All I ever wanted to be was the best. But I find new projects and I keep things in perspective.
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In sport, if you want to be the best you have to compete against the best - I would much rather have come tenth and be judged against everyone than come first and be judged against just a few.
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People tend to like an athlete's performance, but if you don't get a feeling for the individual, you're not very emotive about them.
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We live in the best place on earth but at times the worst.
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It's good to be difficult to know. Too many people are too easy to know.
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I've still got a small fitness and conditioning business where I travel round the world doing stuff for individuals and corporations, mainly fitness training.
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When you're walking into the stadium, you just say to yourself, 'the 100m is the same anywhere, the shot put is the same weight anywhere.'
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I am an education ambassador, mainly working with schools.
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Most people doing the decathlon these days are quite boring, so people don't relate to them.
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Sometimes you have to resist working on your strengths in favour of your weaknesses. The decathlon requires a wide range of skills.
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There are lots of women tennis players, for instance, but because not many of them seem to have much personality, they're interchangeable. You don't have a feeling about them.
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I didn't even know what it was when I started. But I was lucky. I found it at 16. Most people don't discover decathlon until they're 21 or 22.
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I'm competitive – that's what defines me – and I love it.
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Even if you've been involved in a World Cup, the Olympics is huge. Only the Games has the power to change communities.
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When I lost my decathlon world record I took it like a man. I only cried for ten hours.
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What used to drive me was the fact that I wanted to be better than everybody at something. One of my best qualities is that I used whatever other people found to be an adverse thing to be a positive thing for myself.
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For kids it's natural to be competitive.
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We crave instant success these days. If you are a really good sprinter and long jumper, you don't want to spend two or three years on a whole new set of events. You're used to doing well and it's difficult to give that up.
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I'm obsessive. I want to know the answer to how good I am. Most people aren't.