Athlete

The great thing about this is, and not to pump my own tires, but I feel like I'm not maximized yet. I feel like I can still run faster, jump higher, which I think makes it special. Hopefully, going to London, I'll be welcomed into the decathlon community.

Even though decathlon is really long, there's always something different to look forward to, which is great for mental stimulation.

Even if you see a great performance, it's not always great getting there. There are injuries... Intrinsically or unconsciously, people understand that - people see those performances, and they know there are stories behind that.

What you do is you're using the other competitors to push yourself, because it's so hard to push yourself.

I'm not much of a gym rat; I'd rather be running, but if it enables me to run faster, then I guess I can tough it out.

The decathlon is exclusive company.

I always try to do better than I have before, so I think it would be good to break the world record.

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

The world record is like you we went to the theater to see this movie, and it was really good, and it had an unexpected ending, and you left the theater saying, 'Wow, that was such a great movie.'

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

I can't remember when I wasn't running around doing some sort of a sporting activity.

Coping with injuries is always difficult for athletes because all we want to do is, basically, to have our best performances unhindered.

From the time I started the decathlon, I've loved the event. I didn't know why. I still don't know why.

You're just constantly battling this thing that is telling you, 'I don't think I can do it.' I think we all have it. When you're fresh and alert, you can easily put those doubts down. But when you're tired, they easily come up to the surface.

I haven't played a full round of golf yet, but I did make two pars my first time out on a golf course.

When I'm on the track, I like hearing the fans cheer me on.

When I'm later in the competition, I get antsy. I'm seeing everybody else go and achieve things. It's like I'm just twiddling my thumbs.

You see somebody on a football field make a great, athletic 70-yard run, but the athleticism is immeasurable. It's undoubtedly athletic, but compared to somebody else who did something else, how do you compare it? That's the great part of track and field. It's a test, but with results that you can compare to others.

I would say 90 percent of the stuff we do is technical anyway. If you look at a two-hour training day, 12 minutes are probably spent running or gaining fitness.

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.