Daley Thompson Quotes
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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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Ever since I was a kid, whatever situation I was presented with, I always made the most of it.
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Being a decathlete is like having ten girlfriends. You have to love them all, and you can't afford losing one.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 am an education ambassador, mainly working with schools.
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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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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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Most people doing the decathlon these days are quite boring, so people don't relate to them.
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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 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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For kids it's natural to be competitive.
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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.