News & Views

Olympic Preview Part 6: Ashton Eaton Should Take Home Decathlon Gold

Ashton Eaton decathlon world record holderWay back in 1912, Jim Thorpe won the first Olympic decathlon in Stockholm, Sweden.  Since then, the USA decathlon tradition has continued in earnest, with gold medal performances by Milt Campbell, Rafer Johnson, Bill Toomey, Bruce Jenner, Dan O'Brien and Bryan Clay.

Clay was victorious in Beijing four years ago. 

Now, there is a new ten-event Olympic superstar, his name is Ashton Eaton.

The 24-year-old set a new world record of 9,039 points in the US Olympic trials at Eugene, Oregon, winning seven events in nasty, cold rain, while breaking the American decathlon record of 8,891 points (set by O'Brien in 1992).

Eaton’s achievement represented the first world record set at the Olympics trials since Michael Johnson ran the 400 meters in 1996.

In case you were wondering, Belgium’s Hans Van Alphen holds the second highest decathlon point total in the world this year, with 8,519.

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Bruce has traveled the world, both working for and covering a wide array of the sports world’s greatest events. Below is a sampling of the level of experience and perspective he brings to ifollosports.com.

OLYMPIC GAMES:  
Munich 1972, Montreal 1976, Los Angeles 1984, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Salt Lake City 2002, Beijing 2008     
*Editor of the Official Report of the 1984 Olympic Games

PAN AMERICAN GAMES:   
Caracas 1983, Indianapolis 1987, Havana 1991, Mar del Plata 1995, Winnipeg 1999



WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES:   
Zagreb 1987, Duisberg 1989, Sheffield 1991, Buffalo 1993, Fukuoka 1995, Sicily 1997, Palma de Mallorca 1999 

USA TRACK AND FIELD:     
World Championships (Helsinki 1983), World Junior Championships (Athens 1986), World Cup (Rome 1981), World Cup (Havana 1992), Pan American Junior Championships (Barqisimeto 1982, Orlando 1986)  Editor of USATF annual calendar project (1980-1991) and Cross Country handbook (1979-1991) 

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: 
World Baseball Classics in 2006 and 2009.

ASSOCIATED PRESS     
Correspondent covering the Los Angeles Lakers and UCLA Bruins basketball, track and field, and swimming 1977-1989
  

A California native, Bruce is a 
graduate of UCLA and resides in Venice Beach.

 

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