The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten 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.
A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek hepta (seven) and ἄθλος. A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.
Robert Eugene Richards is an American athlete who made three U.S. Olympic Teams in two events: the 1948, 1952, and 1956 Summer Olympics as a pole vaulter and as a decathlete in 1956.
The Academic Decathlon is an annual high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective multiple choice tests, two subjective performance events, and an essay. Academic Decathlon was created by Robert Peterson in 1968 for local schools in Orange County, California and was expanded nationally in 1981 by Robert Peterson, William Patton, first President of the new USAD Board; and Phillip Bardos, Chairman of the new USAD Board. That year, 17 states and the District of Columbia participated, a number that has grown to include most of the United States and some international schools. Patton and Bardos served on the board in these two executive positions for the first 10 years of the USAD and not only personally contributed significantly both financially and in personal effort to the organization in those early day when there were no corporate sponsors they, along with Robert Peterson, were the major three factors in bringing corporate sponsors to the program during these challenging growth years eventually resulting in a financially self sustaining organization. In 2015 Academic Decathlon held its first ever International competition in Shanghai, China. Once known as United States Academic Decathlon, on March 1, 2013, it began operating as the Academic Decathlon.
Caitlyn Marie Jenner is an American television personality and retired Olympic gold medal–winning decathlete.
David O'Neil Thompson is an American former professional basketball player. He played with the Denver Nuggets of both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA. He was previously a star in college for North Carolina State, leading the Wolfpack to its first NCAA championship in 1974. Thompson is one of the six players to score 70 or more points in an NBA game. Thompson was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996.
Jagan Graeme Hames is a retired decathlete from Australia, who won the gold medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, setting a personal best. He started his career as a high jumper and has an official PB of 2.30m in this event.
The United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) is an American academic competition for high school students. The United States Academic Decathlon National Championship, first held in 1982, pits winners at the state level against each other for a national title. The Academic Decathlon consists of 10 events: art, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, math, music, science, social science, and speech. The Super Quiz replaces one of the seven objective events; since 2003, it has alternated between replacing science and social science. The Academic Decathlon requires participation from students of all levels of academic ability; teams generally consist of nine members, who are divided into three divisions based on grade point average: Honors, Scholastic, and Varsity. Though teams consist of nine members, only the top two individuals from each category are counted in the final team score. Each student has the possibility of scoring up to 10,000 points, for a combined team score of 60,000.
The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since 1992, in years which feature a Summer Olympics, World Athletics Championships or an IAAF Continental Cup, the championships serve as a way of selecting the best athletes for those competitions.
The Hypo-Meeting is an annual athletics competition that takes place in the Mösle stadium in Götzis in Vorarlberg (Austria) held in the spring. In its history, a total of three world records have been set: 1980 and 1982 by Daley Thompson, and 2001 by Roman Šebrle.
Damian Warner is a Canadian track and field athlete specializing in decathlon. He won the silver medal at the 2015 World Championships and was a bronze medalist at the 2013 and 2019 World Championships and at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Warner also was the Commonwealth champion from the Glasgow games and the two-time and reigning Pan American champion from the 2015 and 2019 Games. Warner also holds the title to the Pan Am Games record and the Canadian record for the decathlon. Notable for his sprinting, Warner holds decathlon bests in the 100 m and 110 m hurdles, running a 10.12 and 13.27 respectively.
The men's decathlon at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 11–12 August.
The men's decathlon at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha from 2 to 4 October.
The men's decathlon competition of the athletics events at the 1979 Pan American Games took place on 12 and 13 July at the Estadio Sixto Escobar.
The women's pentathlon event at the 1975 Pan American Games was held in Mexico City on 15 and 16 October. It was the last edition where the 200 metres was contested as the last event of the pentathlon before being replaced by the 800 metres in 1979.
