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I must refine my training every day to give myself the best opportunity to achieve my dreams during the Olympic Games in Rio.
We all understand that this isn't about me beating you and you beating me. It's about each individual competing against himself.
Even though decathlon is really long, there's always something different to look forward to, which is great for mental stimulation.
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.
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.
Coping with injuries is always difficult for athletes because all we want to do is, basically, to have our best performances unhindered.
I'm a 'what's next?' guy. I don't know what that is, but I'm excited to find out and put the same kind of energy into it as I put into track.
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.'
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 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.
In our marriage, the success of our athletic dreams comes before everything. 'Hey do you want to watch a movie?' 'No, I have a hard workout tomorrow.'
Rather than realizing immediate physiological gain, the challenge is more about reducing the mental attrition from the two days to maximize each event.
I would like to have a decathlon where all of my throws are really consistent and set the tone. That I'm good all-around, not just a speed and jump guy.
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.
That's what has always been good about track. The goal is very clearly defined: Try to win. Get the gold medal. And I'm able to put my energy toward that.
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.
I could never be a distance runner, because I can't run for more than ten minutes. There aren't enough iPod gigabytes in the world to make that worth it for me.
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.
As a decathlete, you take pride in saying, 'The elements, I'm not going to let them affect me. It's just the 11th event. Another thing you have to fight through.'
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 Olympic gold was like going to a theater and seeing a movie that had the ending you expected. But you left the theater thinking, 'You know, that was a good movie.'
As you get older and gain more experience, you're able to do multiple things. You don't necessarily have to focus so hard on your performance in order to have a good one.
Every day, we as athletes face several challenges during the training process, and it is imperative that we approach each situation carefully and with continued precision.
You try to figure out the best way to throw the shot put, or the perfect way to long jump, and you don't ever get it. You just chip away, chip away, chip away as time goes on.
The questions to ask are, why was the decathlon so popular before, and what happened to make it fade? I notice a lot of things in general tend to follow that up-and-down trend.
The heptathlon world record is nice, but the decathlon is the event. I think the heptathlon is more like a practice. There is something completely different about the decathlon.
As an athlete, you really see a lot of the Instagram paradigm. Where it's just like, 'Me! Me! Me!' When you realize you can 'Give, Give, Give,' it's very interesting, and it's good.
To win two Olympic golds in a row like Daley Thompson is very special. One day, I'm going to have to meet Daley, shake his hand, and thank him for giving me something to chase after.
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.
I think what's at risk is kids losing touch with being a kid. Being a kid is being defined differently than it was when you didn't have all this stuff you could put in front of your face.
When I was growing up, I used to watch 'Power Rangers' and 'Ninja Turtles.' It seemed like every movie had someone doing martial arts in it, so I would go around punching and kicking trees.
From the age of seven, I basically started practicing my hand-eye and foot coordination, balance, strength, endurance, discipline, and mental toughness three days a week until I was about 15.
I remember growing up, having sports to go to, having recess, those were the things I looked forward to. Yes, I'm an athlete, but I had buddies who weren't, and they looked forward to it, too.
It has been a pleasure being in the same era. I mean, the guy's last name is Bolt, and he's the fastest man ever. You can't write a story like that, and so to be in the pages in there is nice.
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.'
Universities are like a utopia in a way, because you're mentally stimulated, you're challenged, and you have a lot of young, creative minds wanting to do new things, different things. Better things.
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.
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.
The first sport I played was baseball. I remember being on the Little League team and someone pitching the ball to me for the first time. I was ready to no longer hit the ball off the tee, and an adult pitched it to me underhand.
It's hard for me to speak of my own development. I'm the one behind the steering wheel, and it is easier to see where the vehicle is going when you are looking at it. For me, it feels like I have been doing the same thing all along.
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.
It would be fantastic to spend your whole life trying to pursue something and then finally, at the last moment, you achieve it. You know, instead of getting it in the middle of the pursuit and spending the second half giving it meaning.
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.
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.
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.
In high school, I had a gold 1992 Ford Explorer. It was a gift. I used to have a terrible habit of locking the keys in the car when I used leave the car running to help it start on a cold morning. I think the local locksmith became used to me calling him.
As athletes, we love to say, 'Just one more; I'm going to figure it out on this next one.' It's tough to pull back the reins and do what is smart physically, listening to your body and always ending a workout or session feeling like I could have done more.
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.
My local newspaper, the 'Bend Bulletin,' interviewed me while I was at high school after I had just signed with the University of Oregon. I remember I wore a University of Oregon hooded sweatshirt, and they took a picture of me in the long jump pit. I was freezing!
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.