Ashton Eaton: "The world's greatest athlete"

Ashton Eaton

“You, sir, are the world’s greatest athlete”, exclaimed King Gustav V of Sweden, after Jim Thorpe, the legendary American athlete, won the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912. This title of “The Greatest Athlete” has persisted ever since, and the winner of the decathlon at the Olympics, is plumed with the honor.

Competing in the decathlon is the ultimate challenge, wherein the limits of human capacity are pushed to gargantuan levels, and the athlete is subjected to the supreme test of mind and body. The brutal humour lies in the fact that an athlete has to compete in 10 events, which include four runs (100m, 1500m,400m, 110m Hurdles), three throws (Shot Put, Discus Throw, Javelin Throw) and three jumps (High Jump, Long Jump, Pole Vault), all in a span of two consecutive days. The competition is not only restricted to overcoming other competitors, but, it is a challenge against oneself, to score as many points in each event, and, to increase the overall score.

Character, attitude and determination and their physical abilities are qualities which are requisite for an individual competing in a decathlon. A decathlete must possess muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, ability to learn technique, and must be strong psychologically (Blockburger, 2003, 1).

Speed, strength, flexibility, coordination, and endurance are all equally instrumental to the success of an athlete competing in the decathlon. In an event that requires athletes to channel their emotions into peak performances several times in different events over two days it is found that athletes’ mental skills such as relaxation and concentration play a cardinal role in elevating the level of performance, and the overall success in a multi-event competition like the Decathlon.

Ashton Eaton is the present world record holder in the decathlon, with 9,039 points, being only the second person in the history of this event, after Roman Šebrle of Czech Republic, to cross the 9,000 points mark.

A look at his world record performance, at the 2012 Olympic trials in Eugene, USA, would bewilder us.

• 100m, 10.21 sec, best ever in a decathlon, 1,044 points
• Long jump, 8.23m, best ever in a decathlon, 1,120
• Shot put, 14.20m, 741
• High jump, 2.05m, 850
• 400m, 46.70 sec, 973

Day 1 – 4,728 points.

• 110m hurdles, 13.70 sec, 1,014
• Discus, 42.81m, 722
• Pole vault, 5.30m, 1,004
• Javelin, 58.87m, 721
• 1500m, 4:14.48, 850

Day 2 – 4,311 points

Eaton eclipsed the record of 9026 that had stood since 27 May 2001 by the Czech Republic’s Roman Šebrle at Gotzis, Austria. Also broken was the American record of 8891 held by Dan O’Brien since 1992.

It provides us a startling revelation about the level of performance expected of a world-class decathlete, and, the barbaric holistic training which they must endure to produce such results.

Ashton Eaton went from being a novice, an athlete lesser known, to a legend, as a result of the transformation he undertook. From 2007, there was a steady spike in Ashton’s performance, and within a year he crossed the 8,000 mark.

His performance improved greatly, under the watchful eyes of coach, Harry Marra, who was hired in 2010. At the 2010 Indoor Athletic Championship’s he shattered Dan O’Brien’s 17-year old NCAA record with a total of 6,449 points.

The Olympics being a year ahead, Eaton decided to switch gears, and displayed better performances. In 2011, he broke his own heptathlon indoor record with 6,568 points. Although, the very same summer, he had to content himself with the silver, after being placed second, behind his teammate Trey Hardee, at the 2011 World Championships at Daegu, South Korea. After this setback, Ashton never looked back, and it was a steady climb to the pinnacle.

The year 2012, was when Ashton reigned supreme in Decathlon. He commenced his undaunted quest, with a win at the World Indoor Championships at Istanbul, pushing his own record to 6,645 points. The next venue was the Olympics trials in June, at Eugene, U.S.A. Ashton continued to remain dominant, despite the cold and wet weather. He surpassed Roman Šebrle’s 13-year old mark of 9,026 points, and this too was done with class. Ashton knew very well that the record was well in sight, and thus he ran the 1,500 meters in 1:14:48 minutes, 5 seconds better than his personal best.

This epic feat was also witnessed by other legendary decathletes such as Rafer Johnson, Bill Toomey, Bruce Jenner and Dan O’ Brien who were present in the stands.

Again in August, at the London Olympics, he secured the gold, and managed to edge past his teammate Trey Hardee, with a total of 8,869. Although this performance did not match up to the previous one at Eugene, he displayed exemplary levels of defiance and tenacity, especially in the last event, the 1500 meters, and hence sealed the competition, finishing 198 points ahead of his teammate Trey Hardee.

Most decathletes reach their prime in the late 20’s, and, as Ashton turns 28 in 2016, he will be the force to reckon, at the Summer Olympics in Brazil.

He is considered one of the most explosive athletes, and, his performance the long jump is world-class. He also one of the fastest hurdlers in the history of decathlon. Ashton requires better performances in Discus and Javelin Throw, which would assist him in amassing more points, and posing a threat to the 10,000 point mark in Decathlon.

Next month’s world indoor championships in Poland will be an event where the U.S Team headlined by Ashton Eaton, hopes to dominate.