Eaton scored 4,621 after the first day’s events, terming the performance “just going through the motions”.
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Ashton Eaton goes in for an embrace with his wife Brianne Theisen-Eaton after winning the gold medal in the Men’s Decathlon during the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics on Thursday (August 18) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
World record holder Eaton, 28, equalled the Olympic record – set by Czech Roman Sebrle at Athens 2004 – by scoring 8,993 points in Rio.
“There was some pressure to make it to the finals”, Powell said, relieved he didn’t have to deliver any bad news as Bolt prepared for the 200 final. Needing to beat Canada’s mark of 42.70 to qualify for the finals, the Americans posted a time of 41.77, the fastest for any team in the prelims.
It was a disappointing showing in the shot put Wednesday morning that ultimately took Warner out of gold medal contention, placing 23rd in the field and making it all the more hard make up the points necessary to knock off Eaton.
“We were laughing and joking out there”, English Gardner said. “Our coach said before we went out there, ‘It’s just like practice, just the whole world will be watching”.
Eaton tied the Olympic record of 8,893 points and defended the title he won in London.
Ashton Eaton credited Daley Thompson with providing the inspiration for him to defend the Olympic decathlon title. He finished third in the final event, the 1,500 meters, to win gold over France’s Kevin Mayer (8,834).
Eaton already belonged to the pantheon of great American decathletes, which began when Jim Thorpe won the first time it was held at the Olympics, in 1912 in Stockholm.
Eaton wears a cooling cap during the decathlon competition on Wednesday.
Eaton joins Great Britain’s Daley Thompson in the record books as the only athletes to win gold in back-to-back Olympic decathlons. Kerron Clement also won his first individual Olympic gold in the 400-meter hurdles.
Eaton had briefly darted away from the decathlon to congratulate 400-meter-hurdles gold medalist Kerron Clement as his teammate knelt exhausted in the midday sun after winning the hurdles, an indicator of the feel-good surging through the USA track team right now.
“To share this with her, she’s a big part of my success”, he told NBC.
Boniface Mucheru Tumuti of Kenya took silver, 0.05 behind, and Cuban-born Yasmani Copello of Turkey, the European champion, won bronze in 47.92.
South Africa’s Caster Semenya, the outright favorite for the women’s 800-meter title, qualified for the final as she breezed to victory in her semifinal heat, pretty much unchallenged, in 1 minute 58.15 seconds.
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Sara Kolak of Croatia unleashed a throw of 66.18 meters in the fourth round of the finals of the women’s javelin to outpace the field. United States Gold: 35, Silver: 33, Bronze: 32, Total: 100 2.
