The decathlon takes so long to learn that people who are good athletes don't want to go back to the beginning again.

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.

Being a decathlete is like having ten girlfriends. You have to love them all, and you can't afford losing one.

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.

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.

For kids it's natural to be competitive.

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.'