Decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin, from δέκα (déka, meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "feat"). Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved.[1] 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 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.[2] Bryan Clay is the reigning Olympic champion, having won the title in 2008. The current decathlon world record holder is American Ashton Eaton, who scored 9,039 points at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials.[3]
The event developed from the ancient pentathlon. Pentathlon competitions were held at the ancient Greek Olympics. Pentathlons involved five disciplines – long jump, discus throw, javelin throw, sprint and a wrestling match.[4] Introduced in Olympia during 708 BC, the competition was extremely popular for many centuries. By the 6th 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 the Olympic athletics program at the 1904 Games.[5]
Format
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 finished the event do a round of honour together after the competition, rather than just the winner or medalling athletes.
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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.[6] However, in 2001 the IAAF approved scoring tables for women's decathlon; the current world record holder is Austra Skujytė of Lithuania.[7] 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.[8]
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 a Czech decathlete Robert Změlík, who achieved 7897 points at a meeting in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, in 1992.[9]
Points system
| Event | A | B | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 m | 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 |
| 400 m | 1.53775 | 82 | 1.81 |
| 110 m 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 |
| 1500 m | 0.03768 | 480 | 1.85 |
The 2001 IAAF points tables use the following formulae:[10]
- Points = INT(A(B — P)C) for track events
- Points = INT(A(P — B)C) for jumping and throwing events
A, B and C are parameters that vary by discipline, as shown in the table below, while P is the performance by the athlete, measured in seconds (running), metres (throwing), or centimetres (jumping).[10]
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.[11]
Benchmarks
Split evenly between the events, the following table shows the benchmark levels needed to earn 1000, 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 |
| 400m | 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 | Seconds |
Records
The current world record holder for the decathlon is Ashton Eaton of the United States, with his score of 9039 points set in 2012.[12]
| Record | Score | Athlete | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World | 9,039 |  Ashton Eaton (USA) |
2012 | |
| World junior | 8,397 |  Torsten Voss (GDR) |
1982 | |
| Continental records | ||||
| Africa | 8,332 |  Larbi Bouraada (ALG) |
2012 | |
| Asia | 8,725 |  Dmitriy Karpov (KAZ) |
2004 | |
| Europe | 9,026 |  Roman Šebrle (CZE) |
2001 | |
| North, Central America and Caribbean |
9,039 | Ashton Eaton (USA) |
2012 | |
| Oceania | 8,490 |  Jagan Hames (AUS) |
1998 | |
| South America | 8,291 |  Tito Steiner (ARG) |
1983 | |
- Updated 7 May 2011.
Decathlon bests
The total decathlon score for all world records in the respective events would be 12,544. The total decathlon score for all the best performances achieved during decathlons is 10,485. The difference column shows what percentage less the decathlon record is in event scoring (i.e. meters, seconds etc.) and the numerical difference in decathlon points (other than the totals section, which shows a percent difference in decathlon points as well).
| Event | WR–World record/ DB–Decathlon best |
Athlete | Record | Score | Difference | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100m | ||||||
| WR |  Usain Bolt (JAM) |
9.58 s | 1,202 | 158 | ||
| DB | Ashton Eaton (USA) |
10.21 s | 1,044 | 6.58% | [13] | |
| Long jump | ||||||
| WR | Mike Powell (USA) |
8.95 m | 1,312 | 192 | ||
| DB | Ashton Eaton (USA) |
8.23 m | 1,120 | 8.04% | [14] | |
| Shot put | ||||||
| WR | Randy Barnes (USA) |
23.12 m | 1,295 | 247 | ||
| DB |  Edy Hubacher (SUI) |
19.17 m | 1,048 | 17.08% | ||
| High jump | ||||||
| WR |  Javier Sotomayor (CUB) |
2.45 m | 1,244 | 183 | ||
| DB | Rolf Beilschmidt (GDR) & Christian Schenk (GDR) |
2.27 m | 1,061 | 7.35% | ||
| 400m | ||||||
| WR | Michael Johnson (USA) |
43.18 s | 1,156 | 131 | ||
| DB | Bill Toomey (USA) |
45.68 s | 1,025 | 5.79% | ||
| 110m hurdles | ||||||
| WR | Dayron Robles (CUB) |
12.87 s | 1,126 | 82 | ||
| DB |  Frank Busemann (GER) |
13.47 s | 1,044 | 4.66% | ||
| Discus throw | ||||||
| WR | Jürgen Schult (GDR) |
74.08 m | 1,383 | 390 | ||
| DB | Bryan Clay (USA) |
55.87 m | 993 | 24.58% | ||
| Pole vault | ||||||
| WR |  Sergey Bubka (URS) |
6.14 m | 1,277 | 125 | ||
| DB | Tim Lobinger (GER) |
5.76 m | 1,152 | 6.19% | ||
| Javelin throw | ||||||
| WR | Jan Železný (CZE) |
98.48 m | 1,331 | 291 | ||
| DB | Peter Blank (FRG) |
79.80 m | 1,040 | 18.80% | ||
| 1500m | ||||||
| WR |  Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) |
3 m 26.00 s | 1,218 | 255 | ||
| DB | Robert Baker (USA) |
3 m 58.70 s | 963 | 15.87% | ||
| Total | World record | 12,544 | 2,059 | |||
| Decathlon | 10,485 | 16.41% | ||||
National records
- As of June 2012.
Season's bests
See also
Other multiple event contests
- Biathlon
- Duathlon
- Triathlon
- Quadrathlon
- Modern pentathlon
- Heptathlon
- Octathlon
- Icosathlon or double decathlon
References
- "IAAF Scoring Tables for Combined Events" (PDF). IAAF. April 2004. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ "Decathlon". Encarta. 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ World's Greatest Athlete
- ^ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/tim_layden/06/24/ashton-eaton-bryan-clay-olympic-trials/index.html
- ^ Waldo E. Sweet, Erich Segal (1987). Sport and recreation in ancient Greece. Oxford University Press. (p37). Retrieved on 2011-05-07.
- ^ IAAF Scoring Tables for Combined Events, p. 7.
- ^ IAAF Scoring Tables for Combined Events, p. 9.
- ^ "Decathlon Records". IAAF. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ IAAF Scoring Tables for Combined Events, p. 10.
- ^ Decathlon Records. DECA - The Decathlon Associatiiton. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
- ^ a b IAAF Scoring Tables for Combined Events, p. 24.
- ^ IAAF Scoring Tables of Athletics - Outdoor - 2008 Edition p. 154.
- ^ "Decathlon Results". USATF. 23 June 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
- ^ "U.S. Olympic trials: Ashton Eaton has record-setting Day 1 in decathlon". www.oregonlive.com. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
- ^ "Ashton Eaton Breaks Decathlon 100m and Long Jump World Records". www.oregonlive.com. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
- ^ "Decathlon Results". USATF. 23 June 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
- ^ "Hypo-Meeting 2012 Men's Results". IAAF. 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
- ^ "Hypo-Meeting 2012 Men's Results". IAAF. 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
- ^ "Decathlon Results". IAAF. 15 June 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
- ^ "Decathlon Results". CBAt. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
External links
- Team Decathlon website
- A downloadable Excel spreadsheet of multi-event scoring and age grading is available from the creator, Stefan Waltermann
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