I won't back down. I get a satisfaction from being tested and defeating the test.
If you have done something once, you can do it again or you can do it better. The beauty is the pursuit of the limit, not the limit itself. At least that's what I hope people realize.
Last year I was the favorite going into the world champs in Beijing, but I felt like I had to do something phenomenal in order to win. Instead of just having fun and competing, it became "I want to win so bad." But the person who wants it the most doesn't win. It's the person who executes. I still look back on that 200-meter race and say what the hell happened? I wasn't hurt, I wasn't sick, the conditions were perfect, and I ran like total crap.
Competition is pretty much the essence of everything, it gives humans drive.
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.
To do the best that I possibly could in my world makes me pretty happy.
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.
I wouldn't say there was a moment of realization when I wanted to be a runner; it was always just something I was.
It's important not to make the gold medal bigger than it is.
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.
You can't really explain competing in Olympic event to someone. You can say, "Oh, that was really tough." And that literally means nothing to someone. If you can give some sort of comparison, because that's really all track and field is about any way....Usain Bolt runs a time and you get to see what everybody else's time is. It would just be interesting to compare Olympians to somebody who doesn't train their whole life.
I feel it's right for me to wear a Canadian flag baseball hat. Regardless of the fact that my wife is Canadian and I would support her throughout, the spirit of the Olympic Games is to have all these countries together to push each other.
I knew I could compete with most people in high school. It didn't quite give me an attitude, but it made me think I didn't have to try hard sometimes.
I always liked running as a kid. You know how eating chocolate or ice cream makes you feel good? That's the same way that running and competing makes me feel.
The thing I like about decathlon is also the thing I dislike: It's the maximum challenge, but also the maximum frustration.
I'm not maximized yet.
I think a challenge for myself is to see how many times I can get above 9,000. That would be a good challenge.
When I see my mom in the stands, it always pushes me to succeed.
