Ashton Eaton
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.Collection: Pet
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.Collection: Fitness
My key to dealing with stress is simple: just stay cool and stay focused.Collection: Cool
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.
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.
It's about not going to the well all the time. The body has limits. The mind has limits, too.
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.
I wouldn't have gone to a Division I school if I didn't have scholarship help. We couldn't afford it.
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.
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.
We all understand that this isn't about me beating you and you beating me. It's about each individual competing against himself.
What you do is you're using the other competitors to push yourself, because it's so hard to push yourself.
The strong ones are the ones who realize that having a bad training day, those types of days are necessary.
That's what we want people to do. Select a goal or gold and go after it.
What I feel like I'm doing is showing people what is humanly possible when someone commits their entire life to something.
I don't set goals. Competing with a number in your head can be limiting, and I don't know what my capabilities are yet.
Even though decathlon is really long, there's always something different to look forward to, which is great for mental stimulation.
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 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.
Now that I'm older, I see the benefits of having free time to release energy.
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 haven't seen kids in years who have holes in the knees of their jeans. Now you go buy jeans with holes in them.
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.
I compete against myself in competitions anyway, so I train against myself in practice.
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'm a second-degree black belt.
A perfect scenario would be to feel like you've just started on every event.
From the time I started the decathlon, I've loved the event. I didn't know why. I still don't know why.
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.
Coping with injuries is always difficult for athletes because all we want to do is, basically, to have our best performances unhindered.
When you have an injury, you are hindered a little bit.
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.
My mom and I have been through a lot. But when you think about it, whose life is perfect? It is just really good because we did this together.
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 am actually a huge supporter of the Canadian athletes, and they are all really nice people.
The only thing I want to think about the moments before a race is competing. I don't want the little things to distract me.
I can't remember when I wasn't running around doing some sort of a sporting activity.
When you're doing any event on an elite level, you're in tune with your body.
If somebody wants me to do something I've never done, I can do it more easily because of all of the years of sports I've played.
I do the whole 10-event thing, but at the end of the day, it's still track and field.
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.
My mom took me to a taekwondo class, and I fell in love. I was seven years old.
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.
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.
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.'
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.
I think when the competitions come, I am always ready to go. I don't think I ever have not been.
I am not the one who has to try to beat me.
For me, I want 10 perfect events.
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.