Greg Rutherford

My grandfather died before I was born, so I never had the chance to speak with him about his father. But I learned about him from books.

I was always the slightly fat kid, which used to bother me quite a bit.

Even before I really started, no one said I would make it. But I always had belief.

Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the virus dies, or both die.

A player cannot become a world champion overnight. To become a champion, a player has to sacrifice a lot and to devote much of his time practising and training.

It's a huge step up from the European Indoor Championships to being world outdoor gold medallist.