When I see my mom in the stands, it always pushes me to succeed.

There's never going to be a decathlon that you're going to have 10 events that your satisfied with. You're always, always going to be dissatisfied in something, and that always draws you back to try to retry that the next time you do a decathlon. It's like you go for the perfect 10.

Last year I was the favorite going into the world champs in Beijing, but I felt like I had to do something phenomenal in order to win. Instead of just having fun and competing, it became "I want to win so bad." But the person who wants it the most doesn't win. It's the person who executes. I still look back on that 200-meter race and say what the hell happened? I wasn't hurt, I wasn't sick, the conditions were perfect, and I ran like total crap.

The desire definitely comes from within. There are only a few people who make it to this level and those are the ones who have that innate desire.

I feel it's right for me to wear a Canadian flag baseball hat. Regardless of the fact that my wife is Canadian and I would support her throughout, the spirit of the Olympic Games is to have all these countries together to push each other.

The thing I like about decathlon is also the thing I dislike: It's the maximum challenge, but also the maximum frustration.

I think a challenge for myself is to see how many times I can get above 9,000. That would be a good challenge.