Daley Thompson Quotes

Author Image

Daley Thompson

Profession : Athlete

Birth : July 30, 1958

Kids are starting at such a low base rate in terms of fitness that it's taking them years to catch up to where people like me started from. Every little bit is making it more difficult for kids to succeed on a world stage.

Daley Thompson

I've still got a small fitness and conditioning business where I travel round the world doing stuff for individuals and corporations, mainly fitness training.

Daley Thompson

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

Daley Thompson

In sport, if you want to be the best you have to compete against the best - I would much rather have come tenth and be judged against everyone than come first and be judged against just a few.

Daley Thompson

Los Angeles was great fun because it was the polar opposite of Moscow in 1980. It was sunny and bright, lots of colours around, whereas Moscow was dark and oppressive.

Daley Thompson

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

Daley Thompson

It's good to be difficult to know. Too many people are too easy to know.

Daley Thompson

Most people doing the decathlon these days are quite boring, so people don't relate to them.

Daley Thompson

The stopwatch doesn't lie. The tape measure doesn't lie.

Daley Thompson

I am only about winning and getting better.

Daley Thompson

In my heart of hearts my motivation would always have been to be the best, and I think that athletics is probably what I was built for.

Daley Thompson

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

Daley Thompson

Sometimes you have to resist working on your strengths in favour of your weaknesses. The decathlon requires a wide range of skills.

Daley Thompson

If you work hard in real life, people tend to get in your way - either from inertia or prejudice - and they stop you achieving things. It's the worst thing about real life compared with sports, where you generally get what you deserve: if you're the fastest guy, you win; there are no other games being played.

Daley Thompson

There were only ever two black kids at my school. I never considered myself to be 'a black kid'. I was who I was. Which isn't to say things haven't happened to me that wouldn't have happened if I wasn't black.

Daley Thompson

Sport and health are so important to our nation that they deserve to be right at the front of people's minds.

Daley Thompson

I wouldn't swap the era I competed in for anything, not a day of it. I started out as an amateur, and people like myself, Seb Coe, Steve Ovett, Steve Cram, Tessa Sanderson and the rest did it for the glory of winning medals for our country.

Daley Thompson

Retiring was hard. I'd spent 15 years doing something I loved, but when you get older everything seems to go. When I started spending too long with the physio and the doctor, I knew it was time to call it a day. But I had no preparation for being retired and I didn't know what to do.

Daley Thompson

For kids it's natural to be competitive.

Daley Thompson

Being a decathlete is like having ten girlfriends. You have to love them all, and you can't afford losing one.

Daley Thompson