Decathlon

The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin, from δέκα (déka, meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "feat"). 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.

Traditionally, the title of "World's Greatest Athlete" has been given to the man who wins the decathlon. This began when KingGustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, "You, sir, are the world's greatest athlete" after Thorpe won the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912. The current holder of the title is American Bryan Clay, the gold medal winner of the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, who took the title from Athens Olympics Czech champion Roman Šebrle.

College decathlete competitors pose at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. 

The event developed from the ancient pentathlon. Pentathlon competitions were held at the ancient Greek Olympics. Pentathlons involved five disciplines – long jump, discus throw, javelin throw, sprint and a wrestling match.Introduced in Olympia during 708 BC, the competition was extremely popular for many centuries. By the 6th century BC, pentathlons had become part of religious games. The Amateur Athletic Union held "all around events" from the 1880s and a decathlon first appeared on the Olympic athletics program at the 1904 Games.

Men's decathlon

The vast majority of international and top level men's decathlons are divided in to a two-day competition, with the track and field events held in the order below. Traditionally, all decathletes who finished the event do a round of honour together after the competition, rather than just the winner or medalling athletes.

Women's decathlon

At major championships, the women's equivalent of the decathlon is the seven-event heptathlon; prior to 1981 it was the five-event pentathlon.However, in 2001 the IAAF approved scoring tables for women's decathlon; the current world record holder is Austra Skujytė of Lithuania. Women's disciplines differ from men's in the same way as for standalone events: the shot, discus and javelin weigh less, and the sprint hurdles uses lower hurdles over 100 m rather than 110 m. The points tables used are the same as for the heptathlon in the shared events. The schedule of events differs from the men's decathlon, with the field events switched between day one and day two; this is to avoid scheduling conflicts when men's and women's decathlon competitions take place simultaneously.

World records (WR) compared to decathlon bests (DB)

Event	WR–World record/ DB–Decathlon best	Athlete	Record	Score	Difference
100m
	WR	Usain Bolt	9.58 s	1202
	DB	Chris Huffins	10.22 s	1042	−161
Long jump
	WR	Mike Powell	8.95 m	1312
	DB	Erki Nool	8.22 m	1117	−195
Shot put
	WR	Randy Barnes	23.12 m	1295
	DB	Edy Hubacher	19.17 m	1048	−247
High jump
	WR	Javier Sotomayor	2.45 m	1244
	DB	Rolf Beilschmidt & Christian Schenk	2.27 m	1061	−183
400m
	WR	Michael Johnson	43.18 s	1156
	DB	Bill Toomey	45.68 s	1025	−131
110m hurdles
	WR	Dayron Robles	12.87 s	1126
	DB	Frank Busemann	13.47 s	1044	−82
Discus throw
	WR	Jürgen Schult	74.08 m	1383
	DB	Bryan Clay	55.87 m	993	−390
Pole vault
	WR	Sergey Bubka	6.14 m	1277
	DB	Tim Lobinger	5.76 m	1152	−125
Javelin throw
	WR	Jan Železný	98.48 m	1331
	DB	Peter Blank	79.80 m	1040	−291
1500m
	WR	Hicham El Guerrouj	3 m 26.00 s	1218
	DB	Robert Baker	3 m 58.70 s	963	−255
Total	World record			12544
	Decathlon			10485