United States’ Ashton Eaton embraces his wife Canada’s Brianne Theisen Eaton after winning the gold medal in men’s decathlon during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016.
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Eaton, who is also the two-time reigning world champion in the event, was leading the competition at the end of Wednesday’s events and maintained that lead throughout Thursday with Mayer nipping at his heels.
In doing so, Eaton became the first man to claim successive decathlon golds since Thompson of Great Britain – the champion in 1980 and 1984.
Ashton Eaton, the world record holder in the Decathlon, has stated that he believes that “tennis is the next most athletic sport”, behind his own.
That’s after day one’s events, which included him competing in the 100-meter dash, running long jump, shot put, high jump and 400-meter race.
With a final thrust across the line he tied the mark of 8,893 points the Czech Roman Sebrle had set at the 2004 Athens Games. Eaton held a solid lead throughout but the color of his medal came down to the final event, the 1,500-meter run.
“You really just have to try to be smooth and treat each attempt with 90 percent effort in a way”, Eaton said earlier in the week, describing his strategy, as reported by Huffington Post.
“I was actually in a cold shower beforehand thinking, ‘Are you going to step up and do this, Ashton?’ And I made a pact with myself and said, yeah, if I have to go to the hospital to run that hard, I’ll do it”, he said Friday on TODAY.
“There’s nothing else I can do”, said Bolt.
“I put my hope and trust in my coach and it paid off”.
Taking bronze was New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh, that nation’s first medalist in the men’s shot put.
Denmark’s Sara Petersen won the silver medal ahead of Ashley Spencer of the United States.
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There was another first when Helen Maroulis became the first American woman to win gold in wrestling after she defeated Saori Yoshida of Japan.
