In our marriage, the success of our athletic dreams comes before everything. ‘Hey do you want to watch a movie?’ ‘No, I have a hard workout tomorrow.’ – Ashton Eaton
I compete against myself in competitions anyway, so I train against myself in practice. – Ashton Eaton
After asking questions about current recovery techniques, the conversation prompted me to ask myself, ‘Why does it feel good after running to pour a bottle of water over your head?’ I don’t know the physiological answer, but the fact that it does feel better makes me perform better. – Ashton Eaton
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. – Ashton Eaton
The world record is like you we went to the theater to see this movie, and it was really good, and it had an unexpected ending, and you left the theater saying, ‘Wow, that was such a great movie.’ – Ashton Eaton
The strong ones are the ones who realize that having a bad training day, those types of days are necessary. – Ashton Eaton
I think that titles are for, I don’t know, books and stuff. I just like doing what I’m doing. – Ashton Eaton
You try to figure out the best way to throw the shot put, or the perfect way to long jump, and you don’t ever get it. You just chip away, chip away, chip away as time goes on. – Ashton Eaton
The thing I like about decathlon is also the thing I dislike: It’s the maximum challenge, but also the maximum frustration. – Ashton Eaton
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. – Ashton Eaton
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. – Ashton Eaton
It would be fantastic to spend your whole life trying to pursue something and then finally, at the last moment, you achieve it. You know, instead of getting it in the middle of the pursuit and spending the second half giving it meaning. – Ashton Eaton
The first sport I played was baseball. I remember being on the Little League team and someone pitching the ball to me for the first time. I was ready to no longer hit the ball off the tee, and an adult pitched it to me underhand. – Ashton Eaton
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. – Ashton Eaton
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. – Ashton Eaton
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. – Ashton Eaton
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. – Ashton Eaton
You’re just constantly battling this thing that is telling you, ‘I don’t think I can do it.’ I think we all have it. When you’re fresh and alert, you can easily put those doubts down. But when you’re tired, they easily come up to the surface. – Ashton Eaton
Every day, we as athletes face several challenges during the training process, and it is imperative that we approach each situation carefully and with continued precision. – Ashton Eaton
The great thing about this is, and not to pump my own tires, but I feel like I’m not maximized yet. I feel like I can still run faster, jump higher, which I think makes it special. Hopefully, going to London, I’ll be welcomed into the decathlon community. – Ashton Eaton
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. – Ashton Eaton
To be with the other two-time gold medalists is great, but it’s great to just be a decathlete. – Ashton Eaton