Ashton Eaton Quotations

When I see my mom in the stands, it always pushes me to succeed.

The thing I like about decathlon is also the thing I dislike: It's the maximum challenge, but also the maximum frustration.

I'm not maximized yet.

I wouldn't say there was a moment of realization when I wanted to be a runner; it was always just something I was.

It's important not to make the gold medal bigger than it is.

I knew I could compete with most people in high school. It didn't quite give me an attitude, but it made me think I didn't have to try hard sometimes.

To do the best that I possibly could in my world makes me pretty happy.

I think a challenge for myself is to see how many times I can get above 9,000. That would be a good challenge.

I want to see where I measure up against everyone in the world and everyone who has ever competed in the sport, and there's that innate sense of wanting to challenge myself. I'm competitive in all aspects.

There's never going to be a decathlon that you're going to have 10 events that your satisfied with. You're always, always going to be dissatisfied in something, and that always draws you back to try to retry that the next time you do a decathlon. It's like you go for the perfect 10.