You wait seven years for the Olympics and then the last few weeks seem to drag by,” says Daley Thompson.
The 53-year-old decathlete retired in 1992 after competing in four Games, winning gold in Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984. With four world records, three European Championships and other titles to his name, Thompson is still considered the best all-round athlete Britain — or rather London (he was born in Notting Hill) — has ever produced. For London 2012, he’s like an old boxer hearing the bell.
'It's the biggest sporting occasion in the world,' he says. 'To have it at home is a rare thing. We put on big events well - look at the Jubilee.'
With his friend Sebastian Coe he’s been a frequent visitor to the Olympic Park: 'All the flowers are out now: it looks like it's been there for 10 years already.'
He fancies Britain's chances: 'Listen, every host nation since the war has won more medals than they ever have before. Why shouldn't that happen for us as well?'
I ask Thompson on whom he's pinning particular hopes and he cites triathletes the Brownlee brothers and Helen Jenkins, rower Kath Grainger, and cyclist Chris Hoy. What, not his friend and Team GB's designated golden girl Jessica Ennis? 'I didn't want to be too obvious. Think she's a given, isn't she? I'm hoping there will be athletes who get into the odd final they wouldn't normally be in.'
These days Thompson runs a personal fitness business in Brighton and concentrates on being a dad to his five kids, aged from five to 24. He did not have a major ambassadorial role for London 2012, and was controversially omitted from an official scratchcard featuring past Olympians. But he's been signed for Olympic-themed campaigns by Mini and Daz, and by Australia's Channel 9 as a commentator.
Did he at least tap up Seb for tickets? 'I wish! I went into the ballot like everyone else, applied for £7,000 worth and got £700 worth - badminton, table tennis and volleyball.'
Are his children following in his sporting footsteps? 'They're too big,' he says with his ever-Olympian confidence. 'I don't think the world is actually ready for another me quite yet.'
See Daley host the “Dazathlon” at facebook.com/dazsoapclub.
