The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. This is the men’s ultimate all-round test, a contest combining four runs, three jumps and three throws covering spread over two days.

 

Competitors earn points for their performance in each discipline and the overall winner is the man who accrues the most points. The first day consists of (in order): 100m, Long Jump, Shot Put, High Jump and 400m.

The second day’s events are 110m Hurdles, Discus Throw, Pole Vault,

Javelin Throw and 1500m.

 

History 

The forerunner of the modern Decathlon was the Pentathlon, a regular feature of the Ancient Olympics that comprised long jump, discus, javelin, sprint and wrestling.

 

Various versions of the event re-emerged

in the 19th century to determine all-around

prowess and a multi-event competition

was held at the 1904 Olympic Games but

the first Decathlon that resembles the

current format was held in 1911, with the

inaugural Olympic Games Decathlon -

famously won by the legendary Jim Thorpe - taking place a year later in Stockholm. 

 

The scoring tables that determine how a many points a performance is worth have actually been adjusted six times since they were established in 1912, because of athletes' ever-improving abilities, equipment changes and to equate the events more accurately.

 

The changes happened in 1920, 1934, 1950, 1962, 1977 (to take account of the growing use of electronic timing) and, most recently, 1985.

 

Gold standard

Ashton Eaton's victory at the London 2012 Olympic Games was the 13thDecathlon gold medal for the USA, who have been the most dominant nation in the event by a long way as no other country has won more than two gold medals. In similar fashion, the USA has been the most successful nation at the IAAF World Championships with seven gold medals in 13 editions.

 

Bob Mathias

Mathias was just 17 when he won the 1948 Olympic Games title in 1948, and he still remains the youngest ever winner of an Olympic decathlon medal. Four years later in Helsinki, after setting his first World record in 1950, he won by the astonishing margin of 912 points with a World record tally of 7887 points to become the first man to successfully defend an Olympic Decathlon title.

 

Later in life, he became a successful politician and served eight years as a congressman in the US House of Representatives. He died in 2006 at the age of 75. There is also an official World record for the women's Decathlon but this is not contested at major championships. 

 

Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved. The decathlon is contested mainly by male athletes, while female athletes typically compete in the heptathlon. Traditionally, the title of "World's Greatest Athlete" has been given to the man who wins the Olympic decathlon.

 

This began when King Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, "You, sir, are the world's greatest athlete" after Thorpe won the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912. The current decathlon world record holder is American Ashton Eaton, who scored 9039 points at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials.

 

The event developed from the ancient pentathlon. Pentathlon competitions were held at the ancient GreekOlympics. Pentathlons involved five disciplines – long jump, discus throw, javelin throw, sprint and a wrestlingmatch. Introduced in Olympia during 708 BC, the competition was extremely popular for many centuries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the sixth century BC, pentathlons had become part of religious games. The Amateur Athletic Union held "all around events" from the 1880s and a decathlon first appeared on theOlympic athletics program at the 1904 Games.

 

Men's decathlon

The vast majority of international and top level men's decathlons are divided into a two-day competition, with the track and field events held in the order below.

 

Traditionally, all decathletes who finish the event, rather than just the winner or medalling athletes, do a round of honour together after the competition.

 

Day 1

• 100m run

• Long jump

• Shot put

• High jump

• 400m run

Day 2

• 110m hurdles

• Discus throw

• Pole vault

• Javelin throw

• 1500m run

 

Women's decathlon

At major championships, the women's equivalent of the decathlon is the seven-event heptathlon; prior to 1981 it was the five-event pentathlon. However, in 2001, the IAAFapproved scoring tables for a women's decathlon; the current world record holder is Austra Skujytė of Lithuania.

 

Women's disciplines differ from men's in the same way as for standalone events: the shot, discus and javelin weigh less, and the sprint hurdles uses lower hurdles over 100 m rather than 110 m. The points tables used are the same as for the heptathlon in the shared events.

 

The schedule of events differs from the men's decathlon, with the field events switched between day one and day two; this is to avoid scheduling conflicts when men's and women's decathlon competitions take place simultaneously.

 

Day 1

• 100m run

• Discus throw

• Pole vault

• Javelin throw

• 400m run

Day 2

• 100m hurdles

• Long jump

• Shot put

• High jump

• 1500m run

 

One hour

The one-hour decathlon is a special type of decathlon in which the athletes have to start the last of ten events (1500 m) within sixty minutes after the start of the first event.

 

The world record holder is Czech decathlete Robert Změlík, who achieved 7,897 points at a meeting in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, in 1992. View the World All-Time List HERE

 

Masters athletics

In Masters athletics, performance scores are age graded before being applied to the standard scoring table. This way, marks that would be competitive within an age division can get rated, even if those marks would not appear on the scale designed for younger age groups.

 

Additionally, like women, the age divisions use different implement weights and lower hurdles.

 

Based on this system, German Rolf

Geese in the M60 division and

American Robert Hewitt in the M80

divisions have set their respective

world records over 8,000 points.

 

Using the same scale, Nadine

O'Connor scored 10,234 points in

the W65 division, the highest

decathlon score ever recorded.

 

Points system

Event                             A               B              C    

100m run               25.4347        18           1.81

Long jump             0.14354        220         1.4

Shot put                 51.39            1.5          1.05

High jump              0.8465         75            1.42

400m run               1.53775       82           1.81

110m hurdles        5.74352      28.5         1.92

Discus throw         12.91           4              1.1

Pole vault               0.2797        100          1.35

Javelin throw         10.14           7              1.08

1500m run             0.03768     480           1.85

 

Decathlon scoring tables

The 2001 IAAF points tables use the following formula:

• Points = INT(A(B — P)C) for track events (faster time produces a better score)

• Points = INT(A(P — B)C) for field events (greater distance or height produces a better score)

 

A, B and C are parameters that vary by discipline, as shown in the table above, while P is the performance by the athlete, measured in seconds (running), metres (throwing), or centimetres (jumping).

 

The decathlon tables should not be confused with the scoring tables compiled by Bojidar Spiriev, to allow comparison of the relative quality of performances by athletes in different events. On those tables, for example, a decathlon score of 9,006 points equates to 1,265 "comparison points", the same number as a triple jump of 18 m.

 

Benchmarks

Split evenly between the events, the following table shows the benchmark levels needed to earn 1,000, 900, 800 and 700 points in each sport.

Event                1,000 pts     900 pts           800 pts          700 pts          Units    

100m                  10.395       10.827             11.278           11.756        Seconds

Long jump          7.76            7.36                6.941              6.51            Metres

Shot put              18.4           16.79              15.16              13.53          Metres

High jump           2.20           2.10                1.99                1.88            Metres

400 m                  46.17         48.19              50.32              52.58          Seconds

110m hurdles    13.8           14.59              15.419            16.29          Seconds

Discus throw      56.17         51.4                46.59              41.72          Metres

Pole vault           5.28            4.96                4.63                4.29            Metres

Javelin throw     77.19          70.67              64.09              57.45          Metres

1500m                3:53.79       4:07.42          4:21.77           4:36.96      Mins:Secs

 

Records

Decathlon world record progression:

The current world record holder for the decathlon is Ashton Eaton of the United States, with a score of 9,039 points set during the 2012 Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon.

 

Record                     Score                        Athlete                                  Year   

World                       9,039                Ashton Eaton (USA)                    2012

World junior           8,397                Torsten Voss (GDR)                     1982

 

Continental records

Africa                       8,343                 Willem Coertzen (RSA)               2013

Asia                          8,725                 Dmitriy Karpov (KAZ)                 2004

Europe                    9,026                 Roman Šebrle (CZE)                   2001

North, Central America & Caribbean

                                9,039                   Ashton Eaton (USA)                  2012

Oceania                 8,490                    Jagan Hames (AUS)                  1998

South America      8,393                  Carlos Chinin (BRA)                   2013

 

Decathlon bests

The total decathlon score for all the best performances achieved during decathlons is 10,490.

 

Decathlon bests are only recognized when an athlete completes the ten-event competition with a score over 7,000 points.

 

Event                         Athlete                       Record     Score      Date          Location        

100m run          Ashton Eaton (USA)         10.21s     1,044    06/22/12       Eugene

Long jump        Ashton Eaton (USA)          8.23m     1,120    06/22/12       Eugene

Shot put            Edy Hubacher (SUI)          19.17m   1,048    10/05/69       Bern

High jump         Rolf Beilschmidt (GDR)    2.27m     1,061    10/01/77        Jena

                            Christian Schenk (GDR)   2.27m     1,061    09/28/88       Seoul

400m run          Bill Toomey (USA)             45.68s     1,025    10/18/68       Mexico City

110m hurdles   Frank Busemann (GER)   13.47s    1,044     08/01/96       Atlanta

Discus throw     Bryan Clay (USA)               55.87m   993      06/24/05       Carson

Pole vault           Tim Lobinger (GER)          5.76m     1,152   09/16/99       Leverkusen

Javelin throw     Peter Blank (FRG)             79.80m   1,040    07/19/92      Emmelshausen

1500m run        Robert Baker (USA)          3:58.70s  963       04/03/80      Austin

Decathlon bests10,490

 

All-time top ten athletes (As of January 2014)

 

Men

Rank    Score               Athlete                       Venue                     Date           

1.          9,039     Ashton Eaton (USA)           Eugene               06/23/12

2.          9,026     Roman Šebrle (CZE)           Götzis                05/27/01

3.          8,994     Tomáš Dvořák (CZE)          Prague               07/04/99

4.          8,891     Dan O'Brien (USA)             Talence              09/05/92

5.          8,847     Daley Thompson (GBR)    Los Angeles       08/09/84

6.          8,832     Jürgen Hingsen (GER)       Mannheim         06/09/84

6.          8,832     Bryan Clay (USA)                Eugene              06/30/08

8.          8,815     Erki Nool (EST)                    Edmonton        08/07/01

9.          8,792     Uwe Freimuth (GDR)         Potsdam           07/21/84

10.        8,790     Trey Hardee (USA)             Berlin                08/20/09

 

Women

Rank     Score               Athlete                            Venue                             Date     

1.          8,358       Austra Skujyte (LTU)          Columbia, Missouri     04/15/05

2.          8,150       Marie Collonvillé (FRA)      Talence                          09/26/04

3.          7,798       Irina Karpova (KAZ)            Talence                         09/26/04

4.          7,358       Julie Martin (FRA)                Talence                         09/26/04

5.          7,064       Breanna Eveland (USA)      Columbia, Missouri    04/14/06

6.          6,749       Barbora Špotáková (CZE)   Talence                        09/26/04

7.          6,709       Marie-Cécile Crancé (FRA)  Talence                        09/26/04

8.          6,641       Lindsay Grigoriev (USA)      Columbia, Missouri   04/15/05

9.          6,614       María Peinado (ESP)            Castellón                     10/23/05

10.        6,599       Sara Tani (ITA)                      Udine                           10/22/06