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.
The men's decathlon competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held at the Olympic Stadium on 23–24 August.
Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay is an American decathlete who was the 2008 Summer Olympic champion for the decathlon and was also World champion in 2005.
Latvia competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. 29 competitors, all men, took part in 16 events in 6 sports. It would be the last time that Latvia would compete at the Summer Games as an independent nation until the 1992 Summer Olympics. After the nation was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, Latvian athletes were forced to compete at the Olympic Games as part of the USSR delegations.
Chile at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany was the nation's seventh appearance out of ten editions of the Summer Olympic Games. This was the first time that the nation was represented by a team under the auspices of the Chilean Olympic Committee of 39 males and 1 female athletes that competed in 27 events in 8 sports. The previous six teams that represented the nation were either walk-ons to the competitions or under the auspices of the Chilean Athletics Federation (FEDACHI) founded in 1914.
The United States competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. The Americans finished second in the medal table behind the hosts. 359 competitors, 313 men and 46 women, took part in 127 events in 21 sports.
Poland competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. 144 competitors, 127 men and 17 women took part in 55 events in 15 sports.
Bulgaria competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. The nation returned to the Olympic Games after having missed the 1932 Summer Olympics due to high travel costs. 26 competitors, all men, took part in 22 events in 7 sports.
China, as the Republic of China, competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. 54 competitors, 52 men and 2 women, took part in 27 events in 7 sports. The team is the inspiration for the 2008 film, Champions.
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 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, West Germany, held at Neckarstadion on 27 and 28 August 1986.
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.
Ashton James Eaton is a retired American decathlete and two-time Olympic champion, who holds the world record in the indoor heptathlon event. Eaton was the second decathlete to break the 9,000-point barrier in the decathlon, with 9,039 points, a score he bettered on August 29, 2015, when he beat his own world record with a score of 9,045 points, and remains the only person to exceed 9000 points twice. His world record was broken by Frenchman Kevin Mayer on September 16, 2018, with a total of 9,126 points, who became the third man to pass the 9,000-point barrier.
The men's decathlon event of the 2003 Pan American Games took place on Tuesday 5 August and Wednesday 6 August 2003.
The Men's decathlon at the 1952 Summer Olympics took place on 25 and 26 July, at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Now 21-year-old Bob Mathias from the United States repeated his performances from the previous games by winning the gold medal and setting new world and Olympic records. It was the second time the United States Olympic team earned all three medals in the event, the first one being in the 1936 Olympic Games.
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 men's decathlon competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium between 17 and 18 August.
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.
