Athlete

I dated my first girlfriend for, like, two weeks in high school, and when you're in high school, it's so much different. I wanted to hang out with my friends and play video games and play paintball and do guy stuff. Girls were never around for my friends group.

I don't have one specific person that I think is the most athletic person.

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 guess the decathlon's never an easy walkthrough.

My mom took me to a taekwondo class, and I fell in love. I was seven years old.

Rather than realizing immediate physiological gain, the challenge is more about reducing the mental attrition from the two days to maximize each event.

I think watching multi-events is much worse than competing. Especially when you have vested interests because you go through the emotional ups and downs.

I think that titles are for, I don't know, books and stuff. I just like doing what I'm doing.

If somebody wants me to do something I've never done, I can do it more easily because of all of the years of sports I've played.

I had a dream, my dream came true, and my mom was there for me every step of the way. We didn't do this for any other reason. I am so happy she is here to experience this with me. This would not be the same if she were not by my side.

I want to see where I measure up against everyone in the world and everyone who has ever competed in the sport, and there's that innate sense of wanting to challenge myself. I'm competitive in all aspects.

I compete against myself in competitions anyway, so I train against myself in practice.

Track and field is tougher physically, but golf is tougher mentally.

If I really felt like I was the world's greatest athlete, I'd get 10 great events. But I know that's pretty much not possible. That's the toughness of the decathlon.

The first pet I remember was a cat called Baby. She would sleep with me, and I could call her from anywhere, and she would come running.

For me, I want 10 perfect events.

Nike came to me and said, 'We're interested in the decathlon and interested in seeing if we can help you get as close to 10,000 points as we can.'

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

I am actually a huge supporter of the Canadian athletes, and they are all really nice people.

When I was a junior and an up-and-coming athlete, I don't think I looked to anyone for inspiration. I was so busy trying to improve myself and learning these new events and learning about the decathlon in general that I didn't really have time to focus on anyone else.