“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.” PeopleKnowsFoundLuckyDecathlon Author:Daley Thompson
“I'm obsessive. I want to know the answer to how good I am. Most people aren't.” PeopleKnowsWantAnswersObsessive Author:Daley Thompson
“It's good to be difficult to know. Too many people are too easy to know.” PeopleKnowsEasyDifficult Author:Daley Thompson
“Most people doing the decathlon these days are quite boring, so people don't relate to them.” PeopleBoringRelateThese DaysDecathlon Author:Daley Thompson
“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.” PeopleIfsFeelingsIndividualPerformancesAthlete Author:Daley Thompson
“Sport and health are so important to our nation that they deserve to be right at the front of people's minds.” PeopleMindImportantNationsSportsFrontsDeserve Author:Daley Thompson
“The decathlon takes so long to learn that people who are good athletes don't want to go back to the beginning again.” PeopleWantLongAthleteBegin AgainGood AthleteDecathlon Author:Daley Thompson
“Kids are starting at such a low base rate in terms of fitness that it's taking them years to catch up to where people like me started from. Every little bit is making it more difficult for kids to succeed on a world stage.” PeopleWorldYearsLittlesKidsBitsDifficultTermStageSucceedLittle BitLowsRateStartingLike Me Author:Daley Thompson
“What used to drive me was the fact that I wanted to be better than everybody at something. One of my best qualities is that I used whatever other people found to be an adverse thing to be a positive thing for myself.” PeopleFactsWantedUsedFoundQualityAdversePositive Things Author:Daley Thompson
“If you work hard in real life, people tend to get in your way - either from inertia or prejudice - and they stop you achieving things. It's the worst thing about real life compared with sports, where you generally get what you deserve: if you're the fastest guy, you win; there are no other games being played.” PeopleIfsWayRealHardGuyGamesWinningSportsAchieveWorstHard WorkDeservePrejudiceReal LifeWorst ThingsInertiaBeing PlayedWhat You Deserve Author:Daley Thompson
“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.” PeopleEmotionCareersPerformancesFilledAthleteThese DaysChampionAmusingRoboticsDifferentiate Author:Daley Thompson
“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.” PeopleWantYearsWellsKidsFiveSixDeservePaidTreatedRubbishLotteryApprenticeship Author:Daley Thompson
