Decathlon, Men

Ashton Eaton came to Rio as the heavy favorite. He was the defending gold medallist and the 2013 and 2015 World Champion, and a two-time world record setter. Barring injury, the gold medal was conceded to him, with Canadian Damian Warner expected to win silver. In the end, Eaton won the gold medal he was supposed to win, and Warner won bronze, but Eaton’s victory was not that easy, as nobody was counting on France’s Kevin Mayer to have the meet of his life, with several personal bests.

Warner opened by winning the 100 metres in 10.30, with Eaton second in 10.46, but Eaton moved ahead after the long jump, with a mark of 7.94. The shot put leader was Mayer, who threw 15.76 to move into third, just behind Warner. Eaton won the 400 in 46.07 in what was probably his best event, while German Kai Kazmirek moved into second place after day one, with Warner in third place, and Mayer in fourth, despite running a PR 48.28.

Warner, the best decathlon hurdler, won the 110 hurdles to open day two, and move back into second, with Mayer third. Eaton seemed to seal the gold medal when he cleared his second height of 4.90 in the pole vault, but there was some drama, as he cleared only on his third attempt. Mayer set another PR of 5.40 in the vault to move into a solid second, well ahead of Warner, and creeping up on Eaton. When Mayer threw a near PR of 65.04 in round one of the javelin, and Eaton posted only 53.26, Mayer briefly moved into the lead, but Eaton recovered with 59.77 in the third round and led going into the 1,500, but only by 44 points. Mayer needed to outrun Eaton by 6.4 seconds in the 1,500, which was unlikely as Eaton was a superior runner, and it was not to be for the Frenchman, who held on for the silver, with Warner getting bronze.

Earlier in Rio, Eaton’s wife, Brianne Theisen-Eaton had entered the heptathlete as one of the favorites for gold, and certainly a medal. Had they both won gold, they would have been the first married couple to win individual gold medals at the same Olympics while competing for different countries, but Theisen-Eaton ended up with the bronze medal. Both Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen-Eaton announced their competitive retirements in early 2017.