My key to dealing with stress is simple: just stay cool and stay focused.
Ashton Eaton
I always try to do better than I have before, so I think it would be good to break the world record.
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.
I won't back down. I get a satisfaction from being tested and defeating the test.
We are competing against ourselves.
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.
I must refine my training every day to give myself the best opportunity to achieve my dreams during the Olympic Games in Rio.
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.'
Track and field is tougher physically, but golf is tougher mentally.
What you do is you're using the other competitors to push yourself, because it's so hard to push yourself.
My biggest competitor? Myself, mentally.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
It's about not going to the well all the time. The body has limits. The mind has limits, too.
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.'
I thought it'd be cool to start my own university, in a way.
To be with the other two-time gold medalists is great, but it's great to just be a decathlete.
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.
I was one of those kids who, everything I tried sports-related, I liked.
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.
I'm a second-degree black belt.
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!
I guess the decathlon's never an easy walkthrough.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We all understand that this isn't about me beating you and you beating me. It's about each individual competing against himself.
Know that even when you want to give up or throw in the towel, in the end it will all be worth the hard work.
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.
I compete against myself in competitions anyway, so I train against myself in practice.
That's what we want people to do. Select a goal or gold and go after it.
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.'
What I feel like I'm doing is showing people what is humanly possible when someone commits their entire life to something.
That is when the crowd really lifted me. That last 600 meters I was not running with my own legs. It was incredible.
The more you do, the more attrition you experience.
Now that I'm older, I see the benefits of having free time to release energy.
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.
If I won a second Olympic title, maybe I would be tempted to go after a third.
Coping with injuries is always difficult for athletes because all we want to do is, basically, to have our best performances unhindered.
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.
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.
I can't remember when I wasn't running around doing some sort of a sporting activity.
