"Sport fosters many things that are good; teamwork and leadership."
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Quote collection
Daley Thompson quotes (page 1 of 3)
46 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The only limitations are mental. The guy who thinks positively will win."
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"I'm competitive - that's what defines me - and I love it."
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"I don't even have my own computer."
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"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."
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"Sometimes you have to resist working on your strengths in favour of your weaknesses. The decathlon requires a wide range of skills."
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"What used to drive me was the fact that I wanted to be better than everybody at something. One of my best qualities is that I used whatever other people found to be an adverse thing to be a positive thing for myself."
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"If you don't want to grow old, then slow down the slowing down process."
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"I have the mentality of a winner. I first went to the Olympic Games when I was 17, three weeks after my O-levels, and I remember sitting in a dining-hall filled with the world's best athletes."
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"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."
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"Having the ambition of becoming Olympic champion is a whole different ambition from wanting to be the greatest."
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"Being a decathlete is like having ten girlfriends. You have to love them all, and you can't afford losing one."
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"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."
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"Most people doing the decathlon these days are quite boring, so people don't relate to them."
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"I am an education ambassador, mainly working with schools."
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"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."
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"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."
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"When I lost my decathlon world record I took it like a man. I only cried for ten hours."
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"Sport and health are so important to our nation that they deserve to be right at the front of people's minds."
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"You can be an Olympic champion in 9.5 secs, but to be the greatest, there's more to it. It takes a bit of forethought and a lot of mental application."
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