The Best Athlete in the World

Update:  It's official!  Ashton Eaton is the World's Greatest Athlete!  Gold in the decathlon, by quite a bit.  American Trey Hardee took home the silver...making it the first time since 1956 that Americans went 1-2 in the decathlon.  Incredible!  Congrats on the achievement!  A truly impressive feat!

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I’m a huge Olympics mark.  There, I said it.  I love it, what can I say?  The nationalism, the random sports you never see any other time of the year, the impressive physical feats that take your breath away…its incredible!  Now, I’ll be honest and say I love the Winter Olympics far more than I do the Summer Olympics (which is odd, seeing as how I really dislike snow…), but the Summer Olympics are far more involved, and definitely has its plusses.  I’ve discovered my new favorite sport in handball (go watch it…its insane).  I’ve seen Usain Bolt put on a show, the Americans dominate the swimming pool, and a dude drop a multi-hundred pound weight bar on his head…so, you know, solid showing all around.

When the Olympics come around, there’s always the popular events:  Gymnastics All Around; Swimming 400 IM, 100 and 200 free, and whatever Michael Phelps is racing in; Track’s 100m and 200m; Women’s Beach Volleyball (ok, I get that one!).  And titles are thrown around like hotcakes.  GREATEST OLYMPIAN EVER!  FASTEST MAN ON THE PLANET!  These titles are all well and good, and impressive in their own right, but there is one event that impresses me more than all the others…the decathlon.

To me, the winner of the decathlon is truly the best athlete in the world.

The decathlon is a combined event in athletics (for some reason, the world calls Track and Field “athletics”) consisting of ten track and field events.  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 points system is too complicated to explain.  The events, though, require a wide range of talents.  The events are as follows:

Day 1: 

100 meters

Long jump

Shot put

High jump

400 meters

Day 2:

110 meters hurdles

Discus throw

Pole vault

Javelin throw

1500 meters

So, to excel at the decathlon, you need to be able to sprint (100m), jump (long jump, high jump), sprint while jumping (110m hurdles), run medium distances (400m), throw heavy things (shot put, discus), throw technical things (discus, javelin), pole vault, and finally run a mile (1500m).  I mean, if that’s not a test of literally every part of one’s fitness and athletic ability, I’m not sure what is. 

The decathlon used to be a very big deal.  The winner was actually called the “world’s greatest athlete,” and gained fame and fortune.  They’d be in commercials, on cereal boxes, etc.  Think Bruce Jenner in 1976 (before he became famous for being the Kardashians’ step-father…I hate myself for knowing that).  These days, it’s hard to even find the decathlon results on TV, let alone bestow fame and fortune on the winner.  The current Olympic champion from 2008 is Brian Clay, an American.  And yet, no one knows who he is.

The world record holder in the decathlon is also an American:  Ashton Eaton, from Bend, Oregon (a place I LOVE, and recently visited).  He set the world record back at the American Olympic Trials earlier this year, earning 9,039 points.  This makes him the favorite to win Olympic gold, but, of course, he has to compete up to his level.   His biggest competition looks to be another American, Trey Hardee…a 2-time decathlon World Champion himself.  Basically, America owns the crap out of the most grueling, impressive, intense athletic competition in the world.  Why is this not more popular?

Decathletes are the very definition of the Olympic motto: faster, higher, stronger.  It’s a shame that they aren’t given the credit they deserve.  These well-rounded, elite athletes are capable of things no one else in the world is.  They are definitely the greatest athletes in the world, and we should be paying attention.  The decathlon started today, and will conclude tomorrow.  I urge you to do your best to find it and tune in.  You’ll be in for a heck of a treat!