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 Olympic decathlon. This began when King Gustav 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 decathlon world record holder is American Ashton Eaton, who scored 9045 points at the 2015 IAAF World Championships.

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 sixth century BC, pentathlons had become part of religious games. A ten-event competition known as the "all-around" or "all-round" championship, similar to the modern decathlon, was first contested at the United States amateur championships in 1884 and reached a consistent form by 1890; an all-around was held at the 1904 Summer Olympics, though whether it was an official Olympic event has been disputed. The modern decathlon first appeared on the Olympic athletics program at the 1912 Games in Stockholm.

Ashton Eaton

Ashton James Eaton (born January 21, 1988) is an American decathlete and Olympic champion, who holds the world record in both the decathlon and indoor heptathlon events, and is only the second decathlete (after Roman Šebrle) to break the 9,000-point barrier, with 9,039 points. On August 29, 2015, he beat his own world record with a score of 9,045 points.

He competes for the Oregon Track Club Elite team based in Eugene, Oregon. In college, Eaton competed for the University of Oregon, where he was a five-time NCAA champion, and won The Bowerman award in 2010. In 2011, Eaton won the first international medal of his career, a silver, in the decathlon at the 2011 World Championships. The following year, Eaton broke his own world record in the heptathlon at the 2012 World Indoor Championships, and then went on to break the world record in the decathlon at the Olympic Trials. After setting the world record, Eaton won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Personal life

2015 World Championships in Athletics

The 15th World Championships in Athletics were held 22–30 August 2015 in Beijing, China. 43 nations won medals, 144 of which were awarded. Kenya topped the medal table for the first time, with 7 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze medals. The United States won 18 medals, six gold, six silver and six bronze, which was the highest tally. Host nation China, finished 11th on the medals table, while Russia, the overall winner and host in 2013, finished ninth.

205 IAAF member countries and territories participated, two more than in 2013, with new IAAF member, Kosovo, making its debut. South Sudan was also set to participate for the first time, but its sole athlete did not show up in Beijing.

Eritrea won their first world title at these championships, with Ghirmay Ghebreslassie winning the men's marathon.

The event was the largest sporting event to take place at the Beijing National Stadium ("Bird's Nest") since the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Bidding process

When the seeking deadline passed on 15 March 2010, three candidate cities (Beijing, London and Chorzów) had confirmed their candidatures. London then withdrew citing that they didn't want to seem to be biased towards the bids for the Olympic Stadium by committing themselves to an athletics event, as the host for this event was to be announced before their 2011 stadium bid deadline. London then stated that they would bid for 2017 and had the blessing of the IAAF to do so. The IAAF announced Beijing as the winning candidate at the IAAF Council Meeting in Monaco on 20 November 2010. The Council of IAAF approved the dates of 22 August until 30 August 2015.

Olympic record

Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games. As each type of Olympic Games occur only once every four years many of these records do not correspond with world records though they are considered important achievements in the careers of the athletes who are able to break or tie them.

The International Olympic Committee recognizes records only for certain events of certain sports. These include, but are not limited to: