“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.
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Eaton’s win places him in the esteemed company of track and field greats Bob Mathias of the United States and Daley Thompson of Great Britain as the only athletes to earn consecutive gold medals in the men’s decathlon.
Team USA’s Ashton Eaton defended his Olympic decathlon title Thursday, becoming the third man in history to repeat as a gold medalist in the grueling 10-event competition.
The American, who is a two-time world champion, and equaled the Olympic record, set back in 2004 by Roman Sebrle, to defend his Olympic title in Rio 2016 yesterday, revealed this belief to Business Insider at a sponsorship event before his eventually successful defense of his title.
Ashton Eaton stayed on top of the leader board for almost all of the two-day, ten event test of speed, strength and stamina.
“I’m a builder and my boss told me that if I won a medal, I could order him round for the day”, – good news for Kiwi Tomas Walsh, who won bronze in the shot put.
The 26-year-old, the fastest woman in the world this year over the distance, blasted out of the blocks and held on to a commanding lead to take the gold in 53.13. Jeremy Taiwo of Seattle finished eleventh in the decathlon with 8300 points.
Last Saturday, Eaton’s wife Brianne captured the bronze medal in the women’s version of this competition, the heptathlon. “For us to have done this together, I can’t put it into words”.
Brianne Theisen-Eaton represented her native Canada at the Rio Games.
“I got inspiration from her”, he said. The couple met in college while both competed for the University of OR in track and field.
The U.S. has won at least one medal in the men’s shot put in every Summer Olympics with the exception of three: 1936, 1976 and 1980, with the nation having boycotted those 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
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Crouser did take his sixth attempt in hopes of both surpassing his newly established Olympic record and making a run at the world record (23.12 meters), taking advantage of what was essentially a “free attempt”. “I thought that was one of the most attractive throws I had ever seen”. “It’s been a long road, and to get here and have everything go essentially perfectly, words can’t describe how I feel right now”.
