Restructured Olympic Decathlon

The very first thing they should do is have both men and women doing the same thing. The optics of having women do fewer events are kinda 1950s.

I think they should add kicking in addition to running, throwing, and jumping.

Say a place kick, a drop kick, and a running kick.

How about all events in one day.

///////////////////////// wrote:

How about all events in one day.

Definitely

Get rid of pole vault.

Add 800 meters.

The OP's idea of adding a swimming event is stupid and impractical. This is a Track and Field competition.

No wrote:

Starting over what should the decathlon events be or how run?

I think they should take the medalists of the individual events: 5k, 400, 1500, high jump, long jump, swimming 100, pole vault, 100. And then those medalists can compete in the Olympic decathlon to see who is the worlds greatest athlete.

You gotta have the greatest compete against each other. Right now all you get is the also rans who then hone their skills in various disciplines and it is boring.

Two questions:

Why would any of these individual event winners want to then compete in this decathlon?

Would you still call it the decathlon even though you've only included 8 events?

Sounds like you've really put some thought into this, but I just need a little clarification, thanks.

A good starting point would be eliminating it altogether.

i agree swimming should be in it. decathlon should be the 'ultimate human event' - domineering any type of land.

so i like your list, but the 1500 should be replaced with 400 hurdles. pole volt requires assistance equipment, not fully human powered - replace that with swim 100m butter fly or 400 IM. some strength element must remain, shot put or clean and jerk

Add 5k to it, which is an ultimate test of endurance for an all-around athlete.

No, no no.

We had this before and it was AWESOME!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstars_

(US_Version)

Lots of great representation from track people or those with a track background!

I did not catch this at first, but the Wikipedia link lists each athlete's sport. It has Mike Powell as "long jump" but lists Skeets and others as "track and field".

newDeca wrote:

i agree swimming should be in it. decathlon should be the 'ultimate human event' - domineering any type of land.

so i like your list, but the 1500 should be replaced with 400 hurdles. pole volt requires assistance equipment, not fully human powered - replace that with swim 100m butter fly or 400 IM. some strength element must remain, shot put or clean and jerk

I'd add a mini-triathlon to the decathlon. It would be 1st leg, a triple jump landing in water instead of sand. 2nd leg a 25m swim. 3rd leg your choice of throwing implements. There will be four rounds and competitors will have to use all four throwing implements, but in any order the choose.

There would be a point system for transitions. The throws would be awarded points like they are today only with bonus points or penalty points added/subtracted from transition from swim until entering the ring or jav. runway.

Any and all ties would be broken by a blindfolded 50m race with two hurdles on the track. The hurdles could have bells, buzzers or beepers so the runners could time their jumps..

Four rounds of this as the last event on the first day.

Cage match MMA should also be an event

No wrote:

Cage match MMA should also be an event

The French think this would be a good event for the stepple chase. 5 meters on either side of the barriers you can beat the crap out of anyone in the field. At the water jump you may duck their head under water and hold them there for 10 seconds.

Marty McRun wrote:

Get rid of pole vault.

Add 800 meters.

The OP's idea of adding a swimming event is stupid and impractical. This is a Track and Field competition.

His idea was not to add a swimming event in. That would be flat out racist. He was saying the winner of those events would compete in the standard Olympic decathlon. That way only one poor white guy would be at a disadvantage and thus acceptable.

Thinking the Olympic decathlon is boring is a strong indicator that your'e not getting enough oxygen to your brain.