Decathlon
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- This article refers to the sporting contest. For the sports store chain of the same name see Decathlon Group. For the aircraft see 8KCAB Decathlon.
The Decathlon
Day 1:
Day 2:
Decathlon sprouted from the ancient game pentathlon. Pentathlon is a game that was played at the ancient Greek Olympics. Pentathlons involved five games – long jump, discus throw, javelin, sprint and a wrestling match. Introduced in Olympia during 708 BC, the game was extremely popular for many centuries. By the 6th century BC, pentathlons became part of religious games.
Gorgos, from Elis town near Olympia was a four-time pentathlon winner during the period. Another key player was Lampis, a young Spartan who was the first Olympic winner. Automedes was also a known player of the time. The last recorded game winner was Publius Asklepiades of Corinth in AD 241. Roman Emperor Theodosius I officially put an end to the game in AD 393 by closing down all the sanctuaries including Olympia.
From the mid 1700s various versions of the game emerged. The 1948 Olympics endorsed a new implication to the game. Seventeen-year-old Mathias emerged as the then decathlon winner, banishing the myth that decathlon was a game for the old and the experienced. Mathias still remains the youngest decathlon sports champion in Olympic history.
In 1964 the International Amateur Athletic Federation laid out new scoring tables and brought about some standardization in the game. The 1970s saw the game spreading to the Eastern European nations, mainly the Soviet Union, Poland and East Germany.
To ancient Greeks and modern Germans, the decathlon performer was and is the king of athletes. But to most of the track world, including the United States, the decathlete is a sometime hero, recognized and applauded only when he wins the Olympic Games. Hero or forgotten man, the 10-event performer is a rare and unique breed.
The decathlon is a menu of athletic events, testing an individual’s speed, endurance, strength, skill, and personality. The word is of Greek origin (deka [ten] +athlon [contest]). The decathlon includes five events on each of 2 successive days. The first day schedules the 100-meter run, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400 meters. It is a day of speed, explosive power, and jumping ability. Day 2 consists of the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500 meters. The importance of this day is on technique and endurance. Performances in the 10 events are scored by reference to point tables. The individual accumulating the highest number of points after 10 events is the decathlon winner.
The first decathlon competition was held on a single day, October 15, 1911, in Goteberg, Sweden. This was technically not the first decathlon, but one of the first two, as Germany also held a decathlon on the very same day. The Germans contested their events in the same order but with a different scoring table. So, the first decathlon world-record holder was the winner of the first completed meet. Karl Hugo Wieslander, a Swede, and Karl Ritter von Halt, a German, were announced world-record holders.
The decathlon was added to the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. After experience, the following order was chosen: 100m run, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400m run on the first day; 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500m run on the 2nd day. The Swedes also developed a set of scoring tables, based on the 1908 Olympic records. After the 1912 Stockholm Games, the tables were updated to include many new Olympic records.
The 1912 Olympic decathlon has become legend because of the presence of Jim Thorpe. Jim had a terrific 1912 spring track season, winning as many as six events per meet. Thorpe made the U.S. Olympic team in four events: decathlon, pentathlon, high jump, and long jump. The Russian czar donated a Viking ship as a prize for the decathlon champion. Thorpe won the decathlon by almost 700 points over his closet opponent, Hugo Wieslander of Sweden. Because of the unexpected large number of entries, the decathlon was held over 3 days. The first day they held the 100m run, long jump, and shot put. The second day consisted of the high jump, 400m run, discus, and 110, hurdles. The third and final day consisted of the pole vault, javelin, and 1500 m run. Thorpe’s 8412 points converts to 6564 points on the current tables, still a very respectable score three quarters of a century later. Swedes: Wieslander, Charles Lamberg, and Gosta Holmer captured the next three spots.
Thorpe’s score was not beaten for another 15 years. In his absence, there was little decathlon activity for the remainder of the decade. Only in Sweden was the decathlon often contested. The Swedes managed to stay neutral during World War I, which forced the cancellation of the games of Berlin in 1916. Fascinatingly, decathlons were held as part of the Far Eastern Games in 1913, 1915, 1917, and 1919.
The average good decathlete competes at most three or four times a year, the less talented even fewer. Bill Toomey’s nine great efforts back in 1969 were very unusual. The Decathlon is the least common Olympic event.
The decathlete does not have to be amazing in any event to be a champion in the 10 events. But he must range from adequate in his weak events to good or better in the other skills. Because he must do well in the four runs and six field events, he has little opportunity to perfect any one event. His training is necessarily different as he strives to improve all techniques, gain strength without losing speed, and acquire the stamina to perform through a competition that lasts anywhere from 4 to 12 hours per day during the Olympics.
The decathlon is the only event in which it doesn’t matter if the athlete finishes first, second, or third in an event. The score is the thing, and for the most part decathletes compete against themselves, while watching their opponents. It is also the only event with an arbitrary scoring system and thus the only one in which personal performance and records can be broken as new scoring tables are adopted. Under the original scoring tables adopted in 1912, Akilles Jarvinen of Finland finished second in both the 1928 and 1932 Olympics, but the new scoring system introduced in 1934 gave Jarvinen higher converted totals than both the men he lost to. World-record holder C.K. Yang lost 1032 points when his 1963 performance was converted late in 1964 to the new tables first used in the 1964 Olympics. His top rivals lost only 287 and 172 points when their bests were converted, and Yang dropped from the favorite to third on the pre-Games ranking, finishing a disappointing fifth.
The arbitrary nature of the scoring tables can work in the opposite direction as well. In 1984, at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, Great Britain’s Daley Thompson missed the world record by one point on then-used 1962/77 tables. The tables were changed a year later and Daley’s score in Los Angeles converted to a best-ever mark.
The decathlon is the only men’s multi-event competition is outdoor track, meaning the competitor must bring into play technique, strategy, and awareness not needed somewhere else. The decathlon is the only contest that allows a performer a chance to catch up after a bad outing. Foul up in one event and there is still hope.
Here is some basic information about each of the ten decathlon events:
100 METERS This event measures basic leg speed and each race/heat will have between 3 and 8 runners. You will push off a set of starting blocks at the start as a reaction to a starters pistol, sprint for 100 meters and lean at the finish line. The race can be timed with a hand held stopwatch to the tenth of a second, or by an automatic timing device which will catch the runners in 1/100ths of a second.
LONG JUMP The athlete runs toward the landing area, plants his takeoff foot on an 8-inch 'toeboard' (named for obvious reasons) and leaps into a sand filled pit. The distance is measured from the mark made in the pit which is closest to the takeoff board. Speed and accuracy are secondary to leaping ability. Each athlete will have only 3 chances and only the best jump will count in the scoring.
SHOT PUT The shot put measures basic arm strength. Again, three tries counting only the best effort for scoring. The athlete attempts to push or 'put' (not throw) a 16-pound iron ball so that it lands within a sector of 40 degrees. The throwing circle is seven feet wide and made of concrete. Efforts do not count if the athlete oversteps the throwing circle or if the shot lands outside of the sector lines.
HIGH JUMP Yet another explosive event where the athlete must approach the bar and landing area, gather himself and leap (always off one foot) over a crossbar. The landing pit is usually made of foam rubber. The crossbar is raised, usually 3cm (@ 1 1/4inches) and an athlete is eliminated after three consecutive misses. The highest height cleared is used for scoring.
400 METERS A century ago, a quarter mile (440 yards) race was deemed an endurance test. Today its metric equivalent is almost an all out sprint. The athlete runs the entire distance in lanes, and like the 100 meter race, may have anywhere from 2 to 7 competitors. The 400 meters tests both speed and stamina and ends the first day's competition.
DAY TWO
110-METER HURDLES The initial event of the second day combines speed and agility. The athletes must sprint (not jump) over a series of ten barriers, 42 inches high (39 inches at the high school level), which are placed 10 yards apart. The athlete must both sprint and stretch his stride pattern so as to only take 3 steps between hurdles. Hurdles may not be deliberately knocked down.
DISCUS THROW The discus, which weighs 2 kilograms (4 1/2 pounds) and is 8'2.5" inches in diameter, has aerodynamic qualities. Again, only three tries are allowed and the athlete, while turning 1 1/2 times, must stay within an 8'2.5" concrete circle. The discus must land within a 40-degree sector. Only the best throw counts in the scoring.
POLE VAULT Technically this is the decathlon's most difficult event. While grasping the upper end of a 14 to 15 foot fiberglass vaulting pole, the athlete races toward the pit, plants the pole in a takeoff box and swings himself up and over a crossbar, eventually landing in a foam rubber pit. Sound easy? It takes lots of practice.
JAVELIN The javelin is a metal spear approximately 8½ feet in length and weighing 800 grams (just under 2 pounds). It must be held by a grip and the throw made behind an arc. At all levels except the high school the javelin must land point first within the sector, which is 29 degrees wide. Each athlete is given three attempts and the best throw is scored.
1500 METERS The final test is one of endurance, 3 3/4 laps around the 400-meter track. Rarely does the decathlete have the luxury of loafing during this event since. He must give his best effort since, at approximately 6 points for every second, places, scores and records (personal or otherwise) will be at stake.
Here are a few of the differences between normal track & field rules and decathlon:
The rulebooks will also list the order for other multi-event competition including men's pentathlon, women's heptathlon and indoor multi events.
1. An interval of at least 30 minutes should be allowed between the time one event ends and the next event begins. At the discretion of the games committee this interval can be altered.
2. Each competitor will be allowed only three attempts in the long jump, shot put, discus throw and javelin throw.
3. It is recommended that fully automatic timing be used. If the meet is manually timed, three time keepers shall time each competitor independently. If the times differ the median time shall be adopted. If for any reason only two register times, and they differ, the slower of the two shall be adopted as official.
4. In the high jump and pole vault the games committee will set the starting heights and the bar will be raised by 3cm (for high jump) and 10 cm (for pole vault)
5. All measurements are metric. It is recommended that all measurements be made with a steel tape. The shot put, discus and javelin throws are measured to the least centimeter. Until recently the discus and javelin had to be measured to the least even centimeter. This is no longer the case.
6. In the determination of sections and lane assignments for running events, they shall be determined by lot. No fewer than three competitors shall start in any section. In the final event, the 1500 meters, the leaders should run in the same heat. If athletes are grouped, the referee shall have the power to rearrange the groups.
7. Hurdles are run in adjacent lanes, except in collegiate meets where hurdles are placed in alternate lanes.
8. If a competitor fouls another competitor in any event he shall lose the points gained for that event but shall be allowed to compete in succeeding events unless the referee deems that the loss of points is not a sufficient penalty.
9. Athletes must make an attempt at each event. This rule is designed to guarantee that the athlete intends to do a 'decathlon' and not just set records or get a workout in single events. Athletes failing to start any event are considered to have abandoned the competition, receive no final score and are not included in the final placing.
10. The event scores, cumulative scores and places shall be announced to the competitors at the completion of each event.
11. The winner of the competition is the athlete who has scored the highest number of points on the IAAF scoring tables (which conveniently are included in the NCAA Rulebook). If there is a tie score, the athlete scoring the higher number of points in the most events shall be awarded the high place. If a tie still remains, then the competitor who has earned the highest number of points in any single event will be given the higher place. If the tie still exists on goes to the second highest number of points, and so on. This rule applies to all decathlon competition except those governed by NCAA rules. The NCAA does not break ties.
Contents |
[edit] World Records
The decathlon world record is:
- Roman Šebrle 9026 pts Götzis, AUT 27 May 2001
- Austra Skujytė 8358 pts Columbia, USA 15 April 2005
Note: The decathlon point system changes every few years, so a "world record" typically only stays current for a few years.
[edit] Other multiple event contests
[edit] Top 10 performers
Accurate as of January 1 2006.
[edit] Other famous decathletes
- Jim Thorpe, USA
- Bruce Jenner, USA
- Bob Mathias, USA
- Dave Johnson, USA
- Dean Macey, UK
- Mike Smith, Canada
[edit] External links
| Athletics events | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sprints: 60 m | 100 m | 200 m | 400 m; ".." Hurdles: 100 m hurdles | 110 m hurdles | 400 m hurdles
Middle distance: 800 m | 1500 m | 3000 m | steeplechase Long distance: 5,000 m | 10,000 m | half marathon | marathon | ultramarathon | multiday races | Cross country running Relays: 4 x 100 m, 4 x 400 m; ".." Race walking Throws: Discus | Hammer | Javelin | Shot put; ".." Jumps: High jump | Long jump | Pole vault | Triple jump Combination: Pentathlon | Heptathlon | Decathlon | ||
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