Daley Thompson

There's no day when I don't think it would be great to be 25 years old and have the Olympics coming in less than 300 days - and be the best in the world. I can't think of anything so motivating.

Having the ambition of becoming Olympic champion is a whole different ambition from wanting to be the greatest.

I was in the doldrums for a while after my athletics career ended in 1992. I spent six to eight hours a day training, for 18 years, and it took a long time to get over the regret that I wasn't competing in major championships any more. All I ever wanted to be was the best. But I find new projects and I keep things in perspective.

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.

Sport fosters many things that are good; teamwork and leadership.

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.

I am only about winning and getting better.

We live in the best place on earth but at times the worst.

But if kids take up things like hockey and football they will go back to it.

The decathlon takes so long to learn that people who are good athletes don't want to go back to the beginning again.

I tend to eat vegetables only when I'm with the kids and the rest of the time, I'm a bit slack. But, I am weight-conscious, so I concentrate on avoiding junk food.

Ever since I was a kid, whatever situation I was presented with, I always made the most of it.