Decathlon, Men

By 1968 the top decathlete was considered to be the American Bill Toomey, who had won the AAU Championships from 1964-68. At the 1966 AAU he had bettered the world record, although the mark was never ratified by the IAAF. The leading Europeans were the West Germans, with Werner von Moltke having won the 1966 European Championship, and the 1964 silver medalist, Hans-Joachim Walde, also competing. In the 400 metres, Toomey took the lead with a stunning mark of 45.68 seconds in the thin Mexican air, winning that phase by 2.7 seconds over West German Kurt Bendlin. He was never headed after that. But going into the final event, he led by only 61 points over Bendlin and 74 points over Walde. Bendlin was not considered a threat in the 1,500 but Walde was, although he would have to defeat Toomey by 7-8 seconds to win. But he was unable to shake Toomey in the 1,500 and in the homestretch, Toomey sprinted, out-kicking by Walde by 1.2 seconds, and winning the gold medal. The sixth-place finisher in 1968, Tom Waddell, became a prominent gay activist and started the Gay Olympics, although the name had to be changed to the Gay Games, when the IOC objected to the use of Olympics.