I didn't even know what it was when I started. But I was lucky. I found it at 16. Most people don't discover decathlon until they're 21 or 22.

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

The only limitations are mental. The guy who thinks positively will win.

I'm competitive - that's what defines me - and I love it.

I don't even have my own computer.

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

If you don't want to grow old, then slow down the slowing down process.

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.

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

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

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.

Never feel sorry for me, just teach me and watch me grow.

Look, you don’t know what makes me tick, so stop assuming you do.

The Christian take on Hellfire seems less dramatic than the Muslim vision, which I grew up with, but Christian magical thinking appeals to me no more than my mother's angels and djinns.

I'm older than I was, and I'm still washed-up, and I haven't changed my music one iota. It's just much easier to do this when people are being nice to you.

History never really says goodbye. History says, see you later.

Every word carries its own surprises and offers its own rewards to the reflective mind.

We are on a journey of becoming that which we already are. That is the impossible paradox of our lives.

The sea darkens And a wild duck s call Is faintly white.

You have to find actors who have the ability to display a wide range of emotion effectively. That's so much harder than it seems.

We often forget our dreams so speedily: if we cannot catch them as they are passing out at the door, we never set eyes on them again.