The Decathlon - From My Perspective

Bolt is also 6'5". Eaton is 6'1".

Bolt would have a larger frame which would help him immensely in the throws and LJ/HJ.

I think world's best athlete for the Decathlon is a misnomer. Bolt is easily the world's best athlete and would dominate the HJ, TJ, LJ, 400m, 400h, or Decathlon if he wanted too.

He doesn't because the money is in the 100/200.

I shouldn't post on a troll thread, but, to all you people who think that some top sprinter could beat Eaton in the decathlon - if that were true, some 9.9x-10.0x type guy who has no chance at making an Olympic team or making any money off track would take up decathlon and get his face on a Wheaties box.

The distance guys on my college team used to put on a Distance Runner's Decathlon. We substituted the tripple jump for the pole vault (coach wasn't really excited about us event trying the vault) and threw out the 1500 at the end in favor of a 1k steeple because we figured it would be more fun. We did the whole thing in one night. It was hysterical!

It also gave me an incredible amount of respect for the multi guys. Being even half-way decent at all 10 real events would take an amazing amount of dedication.

By the way, if I were on the Duke distance team, C Beach would not be invited to participate in this event!

"The Decathlon - From My Perspective"

I didn't know it was possible to actually crawl up your own ass and peer out your azzhole.

Most of the people diminishing what Eaton did are completely clueless about the way training for MULTIPLE events has the effect of making you less effective at any event than you would be if you specialized.

In other words, if Bolt had to train for 10 events, no possible way would he be as fast at 100. He's not superman, and he can't run 9.6 - 9.8 without training as a sprint specialist. You can't just take the maximum somebody's capable of achieving as a specialist in each event, and give them that mark in a decathlon when they would have to train across all 10 events, then perform at all 10 events in two days.

Your post starts off OK, but then gets wilder and wilder. What's your basis for 13.5 on the hurdle? That's an excellent time; has Bolt ever run over hurdles?

16 ft PV is also very good, again for a guy who has probably never so much as picked up a pole. Most vaulters never break 16 feet.

High jump - I'm sure he could get over 6', but there's a world of difference between 6 feet and 7 feet. There is absolutely no reason to think he could even approach 7 feet.

Throws: why do you think he'd be good in the throws? You don't give any reasoning. Why the hell is it "obvious" that he'd be good in the discus? He'd also get slower with work on the throws, which would take away points.

These skills all take years to pick up, and hours and hours of work every day to perfect. The best decathletes are the best athletes because they combine world class, or near world class, skills in nearly every track event. How many conferences do you think Eaton could single handedly win?

Honestly, anybody who says what you just said has likey NEVER done a Decathlon before, EVER. Otherwise you would know what an accomplishment it is to be good at all ten events. Mediocre? Yea Ashton only could have been on the olympic LJ team, and qualified for Nationals in the 100, 400, hurdles. Yea, guys like Curtis Beach are a dime a dozen, blowing through the 1500 at the END of decathlon in sub 4. You are ridiculous, as the icing on the cake is how you don't even get what a huge sportsmanlike gesture it was for Beach to help Ashton complete his WR in fitting fashion, and let him have his moment. Beach just showed another example of how great our sport is, that it is more than just "me, me, me" which is a big reason why so many of us love the sport.

After Ashton's WR, I got to wondering about his development as a decathlete. Take a look at his marks from HS. He was a good sprinter, but not an all around multi event kind of kid. To think that he developed the skills in the other events during his collegiate career makes his record all the more impressive.

http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Athlete.aspx?AID=14952

People, you are missing some key aspects of the event. For one, if Ashton Eaton either trained exclusively for the 1500 all year, or simply rested two weeks and ripped out an open 1500 in a meet, his time would be far better. That's the thing: you can't train for excellence in just one event and you can't compete fully rested. You are performing under duress. The event itself is a handicap. You would see vastly different scores if the events were contested one per month. They are not.

And for those of us there in Eugene watching the two days of the decathlon, sitting or standing in the rain for two eight hour days in a row, you know those decathletes were worked.

Eaton is other worldly. He really is remarkable. We are fortunate he is in track and didn't get sucked up into football, baseball or basketball like most other elite all round American athletes.

Distance Runner Man wrote:

So I like Eaton and I want to like the Decathlon, but there is just something about it that bothers me.

Watching these guys gut out these mediocre times, jumps and throws puts this seed of doubt in my head about them being the best athlete.

I know the 1500 makes it really bad for me. The whole time, I was enjoying the events and then they run the 1500 and they look so freaking slow out there, plus the one guy pulls back and let Eaton win.

I don't know, I just have a hard time buying it.

Could I do the jumps, throws? No way, not a chance in hell. I also don't go around calling myself the world's greatest athlete...

Enjoy the chutzpah in this trolling, pulling this tired old trope out as Eaton demolishes preconceptions in the real world with his very-far-from-mediocre all round world class.

Post-modern trolling indeed.

Bolt is 6'5" with 25" lower legs.

He barely has to jump to get over the hurdles.

13.5 is easily within his capability without any drastic change in training. He could probably set the actual WR in that event too.

You guys diminishing Bolt to make Eaton look better are loonies.

Bolt could kick almost everyone's butt in the power events in Track and Field. Luckily there's only one of him, so the Lashawn Merritts and Ashton Eatons of the world have something they're good at.

The fact you think Bolt couldn't High Jump 7 feet makes you an idiot.

Bolt could easily jump 7 ft. Yes he would have to train, but he's 6'5".

He's also the most explosive big man that has ever run the sprints. I would be surprised, honestly if he didn't jump 7'6" after a week or two of training.

The honest truth you decathletes don't want to admit is that athletes like Bolt in the 100/200 would mop the floors with you guys. Bolt could score 9500 pts in the Decathlon, if he cared about it.

But he doesn't, because he knows its just a bunch of guys that stunk in the other events. Yes, the Decathlon is filled with losers who couldn't make it in other events.

If Eaton was a better sprinter, he'd be running the open 100 or 200. If Hardee was a better thrower or PV he'd be doing those events. If Clay was taller or blacker, he might be able to finish the hurdles.

Truth is the 100m guys are the best athletes, its clear everyone at home watching T&F knows it too. Speed takes power, those with the most speed have the most power. In case you didn't notice the 100m guys were much larger and more powerful than the Decathletes.

i'm laughing at those 800m times eaton put up senior year. wow.

3/10. You started off strong, but blew your troll cover too early.

I agree. Decathlon is like the event that you do if you fail at EVERY OTHER event and just decide to do everything poorly.

Decathlon is one of the few sports that CELEBRATES mediocrity.

Basically you don't like the Decathlon because a bunch of white guys do well at it, and you don't respect Eaton because he only beat a bunch of beta White guys, and not 'real athletes'.

I know thats what you are going to say so just say it.

In my experience, most decathletes are guys that couldn't cut it in other events, and surprise surprise most of them are white.

Its not racist to point out facts, white people don't do well at running compared to blacks.

Buck n Jive wrote:

In my experience, most decathletes are guys that couldn't cut it in other events, and surprise surprise most of them are white.

Its not racist to point out facts, white people don't do well at running compared to blacks.

Black people don't do too well at throws and pole vault.

Blacks do ok in throwing.

The reason blacks don't do better in the throws or pole vault is they know those events don't matter and they also don't train for them in HS. Mostly its just white kids doing the throws, because the white kids are too lazy to run or sprint or get intimidated when a Lemarcus or Javarius lines up next to them.

But be honest, Michael Vick would win the Javelin or Discus. And Blacks would probably be better than whites at the Pole Vault because blacks can sprint faster naturally.

Its the same effect that swimming pools have on most swimmers being white. Everyone knows blacks are better athletes.