I'm competitive - that's what defines me - and I love it.

Athletes these days are too robotic. People like to see performances filled with emotion. In my career I tried to be amusing, to differentiate myself from the other champions.

Sport and health are so important to our nation that they deserve to be right at the front of people's minds.

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.

In my heart of hearts my motivation would always have been to be the best, and I think that athletics is probably what I was built for.

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.

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.