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Given his decathlon dominance at his young age, Ashton Eaton is poised to become the best decathlete in a of a quarter century, since Daley Thompson.
Eaton has certainly had a pretty good six-week stretch.
On June 23rd, he placed first at the US Olympic Trials, breaking the world record in the process. He raised the bar to 9,039, just the second time in decathlon history anyone has broken the 9,000-point barrier. Once in London, Eaton stood alone once again, winning by nearly a 200-point margin to take home the gold.
It's much too soon right now to anoint Eaton the best of all time. If he remains the top decathlete through the 2016 Rio Games, however, he will warrant consideration against anyone in the history of the event.
Looking towards 2016, Eaton has to be considered the clear favorite to repeat. The only decathlete within striking distance in London was fellow countryman Trey Hardee, who is 28 and will be past his prime when it comes time for the Rio Games.
At 24 years old, Eaton is only going to get better in the decathlon. Going a step further, he has already done more at his age than anyone has in decades.
The last decathlete to win Olympic gold at such a young age was Robert Zmelik, who was 23 when he won in 1992. Since then, the gold medalists have been Dan O'Brien (age 30), Erki Nool (30), Roman Sebrle (29) and Bryan Clay (28).
When we look at world-record holders, we have to go back to the days of Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen to find someone Eaton's age. Thompson set a world record in 1980 at the unfathomable age of 21. Hingsen would kick off a rivalry by taking the title from him in 1982, when he was 24 as well.
By the time they peaked in 1984, Thompson had held the world record on four occasions, Hingsen on three. Fittingly, they ended up tied with a world record of 8,798, 170 points better than Bruce Jenner's 1976 mark that Thompson first beat.
Though Eaton only beat Sebrle's score by 13 points to set the current world record, it was the decathlon standard since 2001. That said, unless Eaton can put some distance between his mark and Sebrle's, it will lack the historical significance of what Thompson did in besting Jenner.
If he keeps up his current pace, Eaton should become the first decathlete since Thompson to win consecutive decathlon gold medals. Unless he can break 9,100 points, medal at the 2020 Games, or both, he won't top the impact Thompson had on the event.
Even so, there would be no shame if Eaton falls short of Thompson. He would still safely secure a place as one of the best there's ever been.
Both times I looked at the front page of Bleacher Report this evening, Usain Bolt's 200 victory was displayed prominently. Ashton Eaton's victory in the decathlon wasn't on the front page the first time I looked, and was near the bottom the second time.
That is wrong, because Ashton Eaton is a better athlete than Usain Bolt.
In my opinion, there are three tests of a great track and field athlete. Two of these are the marathon and the mile. The marathon is a long endurance race. The mile also requires endurance, but more importantly, is very much a tactical race.
The third test isn't one of the two sprints that Bolt has double gold in. Neither endurance nor tact is required to win.
Basically, Usain Bolt wins his medals by getting out of the blocks quickly, then running really fast for a few seconds. That's it.
The third test is the decathlon.
The decathlon combines a tactical endurance race and an all-out sprint with a third run (the 400-meter), a hurdles race and three jumping events that utilize completely different techniques. One must also throw objects for distance that are three completely different shapes and weights in three completely different ways.
Plus, all those events happen in just two days; not like in the 100-meter, where you race for 10 seconds and get a six-hour break.
Traditionally, the title of "World's Greatest Athlete" is bestowed on decathlon gold medalists, and with good reason. This began with Jim Thorpe, who took time out from excelling in this multiple event (which he practiced for by single-handedly beating an entire track team) to be an All-American running back and play pro baseball.
Ashton Eaton is the Olympic gold medalist and world-record holder in the decathlon.
Though Eaton and Bolt share the strength of being best in sprints (Eaton's 100-metre and 110-hurdle times would have won gold in the first nine Summer Olympics), Ashton Eaton is much more well-rounded than Bolt.
Consider this: Bolt would have gotten 1,177 points if his 100-meter time had been in the decathlon. Even assuming that Bolt could muster 1,100 points in the 400-meter, to get to 9,000 (above the score Eaton achieved in the Olympics, but below his world record) Bolt would have to do the following:
(This assumes averaging roughly 841 for each event.)
Most people can't do that in their lifetime; if Usain Bolt was the World's Greatest, he'd have to do it in 36 hours. Bottom line: "Mr. 9000" is a better athlete than Bolt.
As the decathlon comes to a close, the US’s Trey Hardee will be unstoppable down the stretch.
The current standings for the men’s decathlon has Ashton Eaton ahead of Trey Hardee by 99 points.
Eaton is favored to maintain his lead and win gold in the event. However, Trey Hardee can still win the decathlon.
Only two events remain with the pole vault already in progress. The javelin throw and the 1500m race remain in the decathlon.
As the event draws to a close, Hardee should be motivated to defend his championship. Last year’s defending world champion defeated Eaton in Daegu, South Korea. He had to come back trailing Eaton as well in the standings. Hardee won gold that day with 8,607 points. Eaton followed with 8,505 points.
Hardee has the endurance to come back from Eaton’s lead again. We’ve seen it before in South Korea. It shouldn’t shock anyone if Hardee wins Olympic gold.
In fact, Eaton struggled last year with the discus, pole vault and javelin. The javelin has yet to begin. Eaton, however, has improved in the pole vault with a leading score of 4.90 compared to Hardee’s 4.80 score.
In this decathlon’s discus throw, Eaton scored 716 points. Hardee had a higher score of 834 points.
Hardee seems already poised to make his move and defend his championship. He’s closing in on Eaton, and today’s the day he can do that. With two more events left, Hardee should be confident in taking the gold medal today.
The defending world champion can make his comeback, but he cannot afford to trail Eaton much longer.
Time running out must force Hardee to become unstoppable in these last two events. If Hardee can mirror his run last year, he will win Olympic gold.
