- Decathlon
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- "Decathlete" redirects here. For the video game, see DecAthlete (video game). For other uses, see Decathlon (disambiguation)
College decathlete competitors pose at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA.
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin (from δέκα deka [ten] and αθλος athlos [contest]). 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] The current holder of the title is American Bryan Clay, the gold medal winner of the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, who took the title from Athens Olympics Czech champion Roman Šebrle.[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]
Contents
Format
Men's decathlon
The vast majority of international and top level men's decathlons are divided in to 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.
- Day 1
- Day 2
- 110 metres hurdles
- Discus throw
- Pole vault
- Javelin throw
- 1500 metres
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]
- Day 1
- Day 2
One hour
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 Main article: Decathlon scoring tablesThe 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 9006 points equates to 1265 "comparison points", the same number as a triple jump of 18.00 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 1000 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 233.79 247.42 261.77 276.96 Seconds Records
Further information: Decathlon world record progressionThe current world record holder for the decathlon is Roman Šebrle of the Czech Republic, with his score of 9026 points set in 2001.[12]
Record Score Athlete Year World 9026 
Roman Šebrle (CZE)2001 World junior 8397 
Torsten Voss (GDR)1982 Continental records Africa 8302 
Larbi Bouraada (ALG)2011 Asia 8725 
Dmitriy Karpov (KAZ)2004 Europe 9026 Roman Šebrle (CZE)2001 North, Central America
and Caribbean8891 
Dan O'Brien (USA)1992 Oceania 8490 
Jagan Hames (AUS)1998 South America 8291 
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.
World records (WR) compared to decathlon bests (DB) Event WR–World record/
DB–Decathlon bestAthlete Record Score Difference 100m WR Usain Bolt 9.58 s 1202 DB Chris Huffins 10.22 s 1042 −161 Long jump WR Mike Powell 8.95 m 1312 DB Erki Nool 8.22 m 1117 −195 Shot put WR Randy Barnes 23.12 m 1295 DB Edy Hubacher 19.17 m 1048 −247 High jump WR Javier Sotomayor 2.45 m 1244 DB Rolf Beilschmidt &
Christian Schenk2.27 m 1061 −183 400m WR Michael Johnson 43.18 s 1156 DB Bill Toomey 45.68 s 1025 −131 110m hurdles WR Dayron Robles 12.87 s 1126 DB Frank Busemann 13.47 s 1044 −82 Discus throw WR Jürgen Schult 74.08 m 1383 DB Bryan Clay 55.87 m 993 −390 Pole vault WR Sergey Bubka 6.14 m 1277 DB Tim Lobinger 5.76 m 1152 −125 Javelin throw WR Jan Železný 98.48 m 1331 DB Peter Blank 79.80 m 1040 −291 1500m WR Hicham El Guerrouj 3 m 26.00 s 1218 DB Robert Baker 3 m 58.70 s 963 −255 Total World record 12544 Decathlon 10485 National records
- As of September 19, 2011.
Points Nation Athlete Date Place 9026 CZERoman Šebrle 2001-04-27 Götzis 8891 USADan O'Brien 1992-09-05 Talence 8847 
GBRDaley Thompson 1984-08-09 Los Angeles 8832 
GERJürgen Hingsen 1984-06-09 Mannheim 8815 
ESTErki Nool 2001-08-07 Edmonton 8735 
BLREduard Hämäläinen 1994-05-29 Götzis 8730 
FINEduard Hämäläinen 1997-08-06 Athens 8725 KAZDmitriy Karpov 2004-08-24 Athens 8709 
UKRAleksandr Apaychev 1984-06-03 Neubrandenburg 8698 
RUSGrigoriy Degtyaryev 1984-06-22 Kiev 8654 
CUBLeonel Suárez 2009-07-04 Havana 8644 
JAMMaurice Smith 2007-09-01 Osaka 8626 
CANMike Smith 1996-05-26 Götzis 8574 
FRAChristian Plaziat 1990-08-29 Split 8573 
ISLJón Arnar Magnússon 1998-05-31 Götzis 8566 
POLSebastian Chmara 1998-05-17 Murcia 8554 
HUNAttila Zsivóczky 2000-06-04 Götzis 8526 
ESPFrancisco Javier Benet 1998-05-17 Murcia 8490 AUSJagan Hames 1998-09-18 Kuala Lumpur 8447 
NEDRobert de Wit 1988-05-22 Eindhoven 8445 
UZBRamil Ganiyev 1997-08-06 Athens 8437 
LTURišardas Malachovskis 1988-07-02 Staiki 8406 
SWENicklas Wiberg 2009-08-20 Berlin 8359 
NZLSimon Poelman 1987-03-22 Christchurch 8334 
SUIStephan Niklaus 1983-07-03 Lausanne 8320 
AUTGernot Kellermayr 1993-05-30 Götzis 8302 ALGLarbi Bouraada 2011-07-17 Ratingen 8291 ARGTito Steiner 1983-06-23 Provo 8290 
CHNQi Haifeng 2005-05-29 Götzis 8288 
MDAValeri Kachanov 1980-06-21 Moscow 8271 
LATJanis Karlivans 2007-05-27 Götzis 8266 
BRAPedro da Silva 1987-04-23 Walnut 8256 
SRBMihail Dudaš 2011-08-28 Daegu 8213 
PORMário Aníbal 2001-07-01 Kaunas 8206 
ROCYang Chuan-Kwang 1963-04-28 Walnut 8200 
BELHans Van Alphen 2011-09-18 Talence 8199 
BULAtanas Andonov 1981-06-21 Sofia 8169 
ITABeniamino Poserina 1996-10-06 Formia 8160 
NORBenjamin Jensen 1999-08-01 Greve 8146 
RSAWillem Coertzen 2009-08-20 Berlin 8073 
JPNKeisuke Ushiro 2011-06-05 Kawasaki 8069 
GREProdromos Korkizoglou 2000-07-02 Ibach 8023 
TUNHamdi Dhouibi 2005-08-10 Helsinki 7994 
DENLars Warming 1988-06-19 Götzis 7882 
IRLCarlos O'Connell 1988-06-05 Emmitsburg 7860 
KORKim Kun-Woo 28 August 2011 Gongju 7846 
TJKIgor Sobolevskiy 1982-07-16 Leningrad 7843 
ROMVasile Bogdan 1975-06-07 Paris 7802 
CYPYeorgios Andreou 2000-08-12 Volos 7799 
SVKPeter Soldos 2001-06-10 Arles 7777 
BARVictor Houston 1997-08-06 Athens 7757 
TURAlper Kasapoğlu 1996-04-19 Azusa 7756 
GEOJuri Dyachkov 1968-06-16 Tbilisi 7755 
VIEVu Van Huyen 2010-11-25 Guangzhou 7734 
VENDouglas Fernández 1983-08-27 Caracas 7730 
QATAhmad Hassan Moussa 2004-06-27 Ratingen 7711 
IRIHadi Sepehrzad 2008-07-21 Tehran 7704 
PURLuiggy Llanos 2003-08-06 Santo Domingo 7698 
SLODamjan Sitar 2006-05-28 Maribor 7659 
CROJoško Vlašić 1983-06-25 Izmir 7632 
LCADominic Johnson 1998-03-27 Tucson 7614 
MEXAlejandro Cárdenas 1996-05-11 Medellín 7096 
ISRErez Meltzer 1994-07-31 Markt Schwaben Season's bests
See also
Other multiple event contests
- Biathlon
- Duathlon
- Triathlon
- Quadrathlon
- Modern pentathlon
- Heptathlon
- Octathlon
- Icosathlon or double decathlon
- Aquathlon
- Chess-boxing
- Nordic combined
References
- "IAAF Scoring Tables for Combined Events". IAAF. April 2004. http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Document/Competitions/TechnicalArea/ScoringTables_CE_744.pdf. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ "Decathlon". Encarta. 2008. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761574361/decathlon.html. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- ^ World's Greatest Athlete
- ^ Athletics at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games: Men's Decathlon. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2011-05-07.
- ^ 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. http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/records/inout=o/discType=5/disc=DEC/detail.html. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ IAAF Scoring Tables for Combined Events, p. 10.
- ^ Decathlon Records. DECA - The Decathlon Association. Retrieved on 2007-10-21.
- ^ a b IAAF Scoring Tables for Combined Events, p. 24.
- ^ IAAF Scoring Tables of Athletics - Outdoor - 2008 Edition p. 154.
- ^ Decathlon records. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-05-07.
External links
- Decathlon points calculator for Iphone
- 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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