A biography for Ashton Eatonhasn’t been written yet.
“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.”
“What I feel like I'm doing is showing people what is humanly possible when someone commits their entire life to something.”
“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.”
“I'm not maximized yet.”
“I thought it'd be cool to start my own university, in a way.”
“I had a dream, my dream came true, and my mom was there for me every step of the way. We didn't do this for any other reason. I am so happy she is here to experience this with me. This would not be the same if she were not by my side.”
“I'm a second-degree black belt.”
“I'm a 'what's next?' guy. I don't know what that is, but I'm excited to find out and put the same kind of energy into it as I put into track.”
“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.”
“The thing I like about decathlon is also the thing I dislike: It's the maximum challenge, but also the maximum frustration.”
“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.”
“I would like to have a decathlon where all of my throws are really consistent and set the tone. That I'm good all-around, not just a speed and jump guy.”
“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.”
“Rather than realizing immediate physiological gain, the challenge is more about reducing the mental attrition from the two days to maximize each event.”
“For me, I want 10 perfect events.”
“When you're doing any event on an elite level, you're in tune with your body.”
“I do the whole 10-event thing, but at the end of the day, it's still track and field.”
“I think watching multi-events is much worse than competing. Especially when you have vested interests because you go through the emotional ups and downs.”
“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.”
“The decathlon is exclusive company.”