Surprised and disappointed - he was one of the good guys and perhaps the greatest of all time. And he showed emotion - a true star.
My favorite times were when he had to do something and then he did it. Like run a really fast 1000 in an indoor event. And when he went flying over the barriers at Millrose...then came flying out from around the other side with a big smile. Dude had fun.
Ashton Eaton retires
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World class in 3 of 10 events. I'll be shocked if we ever see that again.
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the wife is retiring too
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agip wrote:
the wife is retiring too
Thanks, should have noted that. -
not unexpected, as he pretty much achieved all that he could (WRs, multiple championships)
sort of thought he said he planned to try to stick around for WC this summer.
He seemed to be getting tired of the grind. Did the year where he focused on hurdles instead of dec. Maybe was getting bored with dominance?
Amazing athlete. Very humble champion. -
Surprising. I can never understand why these guys retire when they are still able to compete at a high level. He's got to be backing several hundred grand a year at a minimum, not sure where else he is going to pull that kind of cash.
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Great champion. Humble and dominant.
USA is going to miss one previous gold from him! -
Wow. What a shocker. I'm stunned by this development as it's got to be costing them a ton of money.
They have a lengthy explanation on their website.
http://www.weareeaton.com/ -
Does Trey Hardee stick around to finally get gold in Tokyo? He'd be 36 I believe.
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1) way to go out on top
2) what an awesome guy, a great ambassador for the sport
3) what a lucky dude, his wife is hot. -
trashntrashout wrote:
3) what a lucky dude, his wife is hot.
just once I'd like to see a guy write "what a lucky dude, his wife is really smart, kind and accomplished!" -
ruggiero wrote:
trashntrashout wrote:
3) what a lucky dude, his wife is hot.
just once I'd like to see a guy write "what a lucky dude, his wife is really smart, kind and accomplished!"
Do we know that she is smart and kind? We do know she is hot and accomplished.
Not saying that she isn't but unless you know her personally you don't know her true personality.
Seems like weird timing for retirement. Does his contract end right at retirement? He must have something lined up, maybe commentating? -
minong wrote:
World class in 3 of 10 events. I'll be shocked if we ever see that again.
Which 3 in the decathlon would you say he was worldclass outright in?
Clearly the LJ (8.23m) and 400 (45.00 pb). The 400h isn't in the decathlon so what's the third? -
rojo wrote:
minong wrote:
World class in 3 of 10 events. I'll be shocked if we ever see that again.
Which 3 in the decathlon would you say he was worldclass outright in?
Clearly the LJ (8.23m) and 400 (45.00 pb). The 400h isn't in the decathlon so what's the third?
110h. PR 13.35. -
rojo wrote:
minong wrote:
World class in 3 of 10 events. I'll be shocked if we ever see that again.
Which 3 in the decathlon would you say he was worldclass outright in?
Clearly the LJ (8.23m) and 400 (45.00 pb). The 400h isn't in the decathlon so what's the third?
13.35 110 HH -
I'm not surprised they both retired at the same time but I am surprised at the timing. I honestly thought they would go for another Olympics easily. I know people will judge but ultimately they're free to do what they want and both had great careers. Best of luck to them with future endeavours. I'd assume they both have plans already. But perhaps they'll relax a bit first. Decathlon seems like a stressful event that requires great determination and focus.
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I find the tones of their announcement interesting. To me, it seems like Ashton's tone is more "I've done all I want to do, so what else is there?" while Brianne's tone is more exhausted...
Ashton:
It has been 10 years since [first started the decathlon] (secretly I find that fitting) and it’s my time to depart from athletics; to do something new. Frankly there isn’t much more I want to do in sport. I gave the most physically robust years of my life to the discovery and pursuit of my limits in this domain. Did I reach them? Truthfully I'm not sure anyone really does. It seems like we tend to run out of time or will before we run out of potential. That makes humanity limitless then, as far as I'm concerned. And I think that's inspiring.
Brianne:
I gave the last 4 years everything I could. I put my life on hold. Track and field was the priority before everything else: my family, my friends, my marriage, my future. This is something I chose to do and I don’t regret it for a second. It made me happy to pursue something I was so passionate about.
But I’ve done it. I went after what I set out to do and whether I achieved it or fell short is not the point. The point is that I know deep down that I gave it every ounce of energy I had and that if I went back and did it all over again, I would not change a thing; I could not have done anything better. Isn’t this the point of sport? Isn’t this the point of challenging yourself to something? To do the best you can do?
I no longer have the passion for track and field or the heptathlon that I used to because I know I can’t advance any further in the sport; I’ve given it all I can, and I refuse to come back and half-ass it because I love and respect this event and sport too much. With that, I’ve decided to retire. It’s time to move on to my next passion, the next thing in the world I hope to make an impact in. -
Bri must be prego! Calling it. I for one can't wait to see the super powered nice/Canadian ubermensch babies those two are going to have.
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rojo wrote:
Wow. What a shocker. I'm stunned by this development as it's got to be costing them a ton of money.
and
TACKYmfer wrote:
I'm not surprised they both retired at the same time but I am surprised at the timing. I honestly thought they would go for another Olympics easily. .
I guess I shouldn't have been shocked. Eaton said in August he wasn't going to do the 2020 Olympics. Read this good article from August, I think it's pretty interesting as Eaton was already talking about what's next.
http://www.oregonlive.com/olympics/index.ssf/2016/08/ashton_eaton_considers_whats_n.html
What's next now is the question? The guy is really into Elon Musk. Did anyone else notice how he went out of his way to praise him in his retirement statement on his website?
Eaton wrote:
To Nikola Tesla and Elon Musk; you were my inspirations. From you I learned what it means to work, that ambition overrides adversity, and how to pursue a higher purpose.
He's also mentioned in the article above.
the AP wrote:
One of his idols is Tesla co-founder Elon Musk, whose spirit of ingenuity has inspired the decathlete. Eaton says Musk has an uncanny ability to look at something that other people would dismiss as impossible and figure out a way to make it work.
"I just like the way he thinks in the sense that his impact is from a foundation of not listening or accepting things the way they are," Eaton explains. "It's something a lot of people don't want to do because it's hard work." -
They are going to have some athletically-talented babies.
