I caught up with Olympain decathlon legend Daley Thompson, here pictured with 6 time gold medallist Steve Cram, to ask him about how he enjoyed his stay at The Bodyholiday, his rivalry with Jurgen Hingsen, and the 2012 London Olympics.
So how have you enjoyed your stay here at The BodyHoliday?
It’s been brilliant. All my clients seem to be really enjoying their holiday. If they’re having a good holiday it makes it really easy to do the classes because everybody’s really jolly.
And what have you been getting up to here in your spare time?
Most of the time I do my class in the morning, have breakfast with the people I just had a class with, and then I tend to either spend an hour or two reading, or I go up to the gym, have a bit of a lunch, then I usually offer the rest of the class a bike ride around the island for about 2 hours, then in the evenings I’m just knackered and go to sleep. But tonight I’m watching a movie out on the beach.
Well last week they were showing a movie with a shark attack…
Yeah, it didn’t seem quite appropriate for the Caribbean, but this week I’ve ordered “Taken” with Liam Neeson.
Also slightly inappropriate…
Well, only if we have Somalian pirates hanging around.
Fingers crossed! Mark (our GM) wants to know why you only play golf with a six iron.
Ah, because I’ve only been playing for a year or so, and that’s as low as I’ve got. I’d love to play with a four or a three, but I can’t hit the ball.
What other sports are you into these days?
To be honest, I don’t like to do anything too competitive. I try and stay away from all that, because I’m obsessive. If I do something, I like to do it really, really well and I just don’t have the time anymore. I’ve got 5 kids, so a lot of my time is just spent in my car, driving them to school and picking them up, just being a taxi service.
Do you keep in touch with Jurgen Hingsen?
Do you know what I do. We see each other two or three times every year. In fact I saw him over the summer. I went to stay at his house in Germany for a week, and he’s in really good form. In fact we made a small bit of a television programme together.
For German TV?
Actually no it was a pilot for a television programme about the 5 most important decisions you make in your life.
So what are the 5 important decisions you’ve made in your life?
You’ll have to wait until you watch the programme! But I expect to see him quite a lot next year. Not only is it the London Olympics, but it also marks the 100th anniversary of the decathlon being in the Olympics, so they’re having a big celebration where they’re getting all these athletes together, and I saw his name on the list.
Speaking of the 2012 London Olympics, what do you hope to see?
I hope to see unbelievable games, where we do fantastic. Since the second World War, every team that has hosted the Olympics has won 30-40% more medals. If we do that it’ll be worth it for twice the price.
