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 Olympic 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 currentdecathlon 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]

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.

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]

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.

Records

The current world record holder for the decathlon is Ashton Eaton of the United States, with a score of 9039 points set during the 2012 Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon.[12]

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). The relative differences in points are much higher in throwing events than in running and jumping events.

World records (WR) compared to decathlon bests (DB)

Event	WR–World record/ DB–Decathlon best	Athlete	Record	Score	Difference	Ref
100 m
	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%
400 m
	WR	Michael Johnson (USA)	43.18 s	1,156	131
	DB	Bill Toomey (USA) &  Ashton Eaton (USA) [15]	45.68 s	1,025	5.79%	[16]
110 m hurdles
	WR	Aries Merritt (USA)	12.80 s	1135	91
	DB	Ashton Eaton (USA)	13.35 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 (UKR)	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%
1500 m
	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			12,553	2,063
	Decathlon			10,485	16.43%