The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 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.
Paavo Ilmari Yrjölä, also known as the Bear of Hämeenkyrö, was a Finnish track and field athlete who won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1928 Summer Olympics. He also competed in shot put and high jump at the same Games, and in decathlon in 1924 and 1932, but less successfully.
The men's decathlon competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held at the Olympic Stadium on 23–24 August.
Athletics has been contested at every Summer Olympics since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics. The athletics program traces its earliest roots to events used in the ancient Greek Olympics. The modern program includes track and field events, road running events, and race walking events. Cross country running was also on the program in earlier editions but it was dropped after the 1924 Summer Olympics.
Yang Chuan-kwang, or C.K. Yang, was an Olympic decathlete from Taiwan. Yang attended college at UCLA, where he trained and competed with teammate and Olympian Rafer Johnson and was coached by Elvin C. Drake.
Athletes from the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. 34 competitors, all men, took part in 21 events in 6 sports.
Poland competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. 93 competitors, 82 men and 11 women, took part in 44 events in 11 sports.
Romania competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. 21 athletes competed in 16 events across two sports.
The Empire of Japan competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Estonia competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Anthony Joseph Plansky was an American football running back who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants and Boston Braves.
These are the official results of the men's decathlon competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. There were a total number of 26 participating athletes, with the competition starting on August 8, 1984, and ending on August 9, 1984.
The men's decathlon at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place between August 21 and 22, at the Beijing National Stadium.
The men's decathlon event of the 2003 Pan American Games took place on Tuesday 5 August and Wednesday 6 August 2003.
Damian David George Warner is a Canadian track and field athlete specializing in decathlon. He is the 2020 Olympic champion and a four-time world medallist. Warner also won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and was the 2014 Commonwealth champion and a two-time Pan American champion from the 2015 and 2019 Games. Competing in the heptathlon, he is the 2022 World Indoor champion.
Kevin Mayer is a French athlete specialising in decathlon and indoor heptathlon. He is two-time world champion, two-time Olympic silver medalist and the world record holder in the decathlon since 2018. He is also a world and three-time European champion in heptathlon.
Combined events at the Summer Olympics have been contested in several formats at the multi-sport event. There are two combined track and field events in the current Olympic athletics programme: a men's decathlon and a women's heptathlon.
The 1928 United States Olympic trials for track and field were held between July 3 and July 7, 1928 and decided the United States team for the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. For the first time, women's track and field was part of the Olympic program. The trials for men and women were held separately; men competed at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 6 and July 7, while women competed at City Field in Newark, New Jersey on July 4. Three of the men's events were contested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between July 3 and July 5.
The men's decathlon event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 4 and 5 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. 23 athletes competed.
