Decathlon


The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα and ἄθλος. 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. 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 person who wins the decathlon, thus the world's greatest athlete of all times is the record-man of 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 event is similar to the pentathlon held at the ancient Greek Olympics, and also similar to a competition called an "all-around", which was contested at the United States amateur championships in 1884. Another all-around was held at the 1904 Summer Olympics. The modern decathlon first appeared at the 1912 Games.
The current official decathlon world record holder is French Kevin Mayer, who scored a total of 9,126 points at the 2018 Décastar in France.

Historical background

The decathlon developed from the ancient pentathlon competitions held at the ancient Greek Olympics. Pentathlons involved five disciplines – long jump, discus throw, javelin throw, sprint and a wrestling match. 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.
A ten-event competition known as the "all-around" or "all-round" championship, similar to the modern decathlon, was first contested at the United States amateur championships in 1884 and reached a consistent form by 1890; an all-around was held at the 1904 Summer Olympics, though whether it was an official Olympic event has been disputed. The modern decathlon first appeared on the Olympic athletics program at the 1912 Games in Stockholm.

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 finish the event, rather than just the winner or medal winning athletes, do a round of honour together after the competition. The current world record holder is Kevin Mayer from France with 9126 points which he set on September 16, 2018 in Talence, France.
; Day 1
;Day 2
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 IAAF approved scoring tables for a women's decathlon; the current world record holder is Austra Skujytė of Lithuania, with 8,366. 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
;Day 2
The one-hour decathlon is a special type of decathlon in which the athletes have to start the last of ten events within sixty minutes of 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.

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

The 2001 IAAF points tables use the following formulae:
A, B and C are parameters that vary by discipline, as shown in the table on the right, while P is the performance by the athlete, measured in seconds, metres, or centimetres.
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.
Event1,000 pts900 pts800 pts700 ptsUnit
100 m10.39510.82711.27811.756Seconds
Long jump7.767.366.946.51Metres
Shot put18.416.7915.1613.53Metres
High jump2.202.101.991.88Metres
400 m46.1748.1950.3252.58Seconds
110 m hurdles13.814.5915.41916.29Seconds
Discus throw56.1751.446.5941.72Metres
Pole vault5.284.964.634.29Metres
Javelin throw77.1970.6764.0957.45Metres
1500 m3:53.794:07.424:21.774:36.96Minutes:Seconds

Records

The official decathlon world record holder is Kevin Mayer of France, with a score of 9,126 points set during the 2018 Décastar in Talence, France, which was ratified by the IAAF.
Previous record from Ashton Eaton :

Decathlon bests

The total decathlon score for all world records in the respective events would be 12,568. The total decathlon score for all the best performances achieved during decathlons is 10,544. The Difference column shows the difference in points between the decathlon points that the individual current world record would be awarded and the points awarded to the current decathlon record for that event. The % Difference column shows the percentage difference between the time, distance or height of the individual world record and the decathlon record. The relative differences in points are much higher in throwing events than in running and jumping events.
Decathlon bests are only recognized when an athlete completes the ten-event competition with a score over 7,000 points.

All-time top 25 decathletes

Women

Competitions

Olympic medalists

World Championships medalists

Continental competitions

YearScoreAthletePlace
19608,683Eugene
19618,709Memphis
19628,248Tulare
19638,089Walnut
19647,950Liestal
19657,883Kiev
19668,234Salina
19678,319Heidelberg
19688,222 Echo Summit
19698,417Los Angeles
19708,130Erfurt
19718,244Bonn
19728,466Munich
19738,163Bonn
19748,229Montreal
19758,429Eugene
19768,634Montreal
19778,400Riga
19788,493Bernhausen
19798,476Krefeld
19808,667Bernhausen
19818,334Birmingham
19828,774Athens
19838,825Bernhausen
19848,847Los Angeles
19858,559Dresden
19868,811Stuttgart
19878,680Rome
19888,512Talence
19898,549Houston
19908,574Split
19918,812Tokyo
19928,891Talence
19938,817Stuttgart
19948,735Götzis
19958,695Gothenburg
19968,824Atlanta
19978,837Athens
19988,755Uniondale
19998,994Prague
20008,900Götzis
20019,026Götzis
20028,800Götzis
20038,807Götzis
20048,893Athens
20058,732Helsinki
20068,677Götzis
20078,697Kladno
20088,832Eugene
20098,790Berlin
20108,483Götzis
20118,729Eugene
20129,039Eugene
20138,809Moscow
20148,616Zürich
20159,045Beijing
20168,893Rio de Janeiro
20178,768London
20189,126Talence

National records

Junior (under-20) Decathlon bests

Other multiple event contests