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.

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

I'm obsessive. I want to know the answer to how good I am. Most people aren't.

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.

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.

People don't want to serve apprenticeships any more. Kids expect to be paid and treated really well and all that guff before they've achieved anything. It doesn't work like that. You have to spend five or six years being relatively rubbish and put up with it. For that you don't deserve to be getting lottery money.