Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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Born | Los Angeles, California, United States | November 5, 1949||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||
Event | Decathlon | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Fred Dixon (born November 5, 1949) is an American athlete. He competed in the men's decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics. [1] While Dixon had hopes of a medal, he was injured during his flight of the 110 metres hurdles. Dixon struggled to continue but after a no height in the pole vault, he finished in 23rd place. [2]
Dixon finished in second place at the 1975 Pan American Games, behind American rival Bruce Jenner. His 1977 score of 8,397, set in the dual meet against the Soviet Union in Bloomington, Indiana [3] gave him, at the time, the sixth best decathlon score in history behind Olympic champions Jenner, Mykola Avilov and Bill Toomey, plus Guido Kratschmer and Aleksandr Grebenyuk. He was ranked in the world top 10 four years in a row, 1974-7, achieving #2 in 1975 behind Jenner and in 1977 behind Grebenyuk. [4] He finished in third place at the 1980 US Olympic Trials, which would have qualified him to another Olympics, [5] except for the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott.
Dixon appeared in a reunion with Jenner on an episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians before Jenner had transitioned to Caitlyn Jenner. After Jenner's transition he was asked to comment:
"Bruce was one of the best athletes who ever existed. Now, to see that photo ... somehow it doesn't compute." "I look at it and I don't understand it. I'm not in any way judging him ... but it's very different." "The soul that was and is Bruce Jenner is still my friend. I don't understand what's going on now ... but he's still my friend."
— Fred Dixon [6]
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.
Steve Scott is an American former track athlete and one of the greatest mile runners in American history. The silver medalist in the 1500 meters at the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki in 1983, Scott owns the U.S. indoor record in the 2000 meters (4:58.6-1981). He held the American outdoor mile record for more than 26 years and also is the former American indoor record holder in the same event. Track & Field News ranked Scott #1 in the U.S. on 10 occasions, and 11 times during his career he was ranked in the top ten in the world by T&FN. Additionally, he participated for the US team at the 1984 Olympics. He finished 5th in the 1500 meter run at the 1988 Olympics held in Korea. Scott was also an Olympian on the 1980 Olympics team which was not allowed to go to Moscow. He ran the sub four-minute mile on 136 occasions in his career, more than any other runner in history.
Milton Gray Campbell was an American decathlete of the 1950s. In 1956, he became the first African American to win the gold medal in the decathlon of the Summer Olympic Games.
Caitlyn Marie Jenner is an American media personality and former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete.
Linda Diane Thompson is an American songwriter, former actress and beauty pageant winner.
Rodney Phillip Dixon is a former New Zealand middle- to long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and in 1983 won the New York City Marathon.
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.
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.
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.
James Edward "Trey" Hardee III is a retired American track and field athlete who specialized in the combined events. He is a former NCAA Champion, a two-time World Outdoor Champion, a member of the United States 2008 Olympic team, and the silver medalist in the decathlon at the London 2012 Olympics. He was Inducted into the Texas Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2018.
Robert Jacob "Jake" Arnold is a decathlete from the United States. He represented the United States in the decathlon at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships ranking 13th and 24th respectively. He became the first athlete to win back-to-back NCAA decathlon titles in over twenty years after winning the event in both 2006 and 2007.
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 the two-time and reigning Pan American champion from the 2015 and 2019 Games. Warner holds the Pan Am Games record and the Canadian record for the decathlon and the fourth-highest decathlon score in history. Warner also holds the Olympic Games Record for the Decathlon at 9018 points. 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.
The Men's decathlon competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was held at the Olympic Stadium on 29–30 July.
Viktor Gruzenkin is a retired Soviet decathlete. His personal record in the decathlon is 8356 points, set in Kiev in 1984. On February 17–18, 1979 he set the world record in the Indoor Heptathlon at 5934 points, which he held for over a year, surpassing the record of Guido Kratschmer who had recently won the silver medal in the 1976 Olympics behind Bruce Jenner.
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.
L. D. Weldon was an American track and field coach. He trained decathletes, including two Olympic medal winners, 40 years apart.
The men's decathlon at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 11–12 August.
James Austin Menaul was an American athlete who came fifth in the 1912 Olympic pentathlon.
Pierce LePage is a Canadian track athlete who competes in the decathlon. He is the 2023 World champion, and the first Canadian to win the decathlon title at the World Athletics Championships. LePage is also the 2022 World silver medalist, 2018 Commonwealth silver medallist, and 2019 Pan American bronze medallist. LePage represented Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics, finishing in fifth place.