Eaton, a 28-year-old OR native, finished off his second-straight decathlon gold by placing first in the 1,500-meter race, the final event in the two-day, 10-event competition.
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Eaton has now won successive Olympic and world titles to confirm his status at the best all-around athlete in the world.
What more could the now two-time Olympic champion Eaton do Thursday night to get just a little sliver of the limelight that beams so brightly on Usain Bolt?
Ashton Eaton of the US toughed it out at Rio 2016 to win his second straight Olympic decathlon gold medal, equalling the Olympic record and becoming the first man since Great Britain’s Daley Thompson to win back-to-back golds in the event. From throwing, to jumping, to running, Eaton can do it all. Concentrating on not messing that up for Bolt, a Jamaica team led by Asafa Powell got into the final in an important moment for the big man’s legacy. With Bolt focusing on the 200 final – part 2 of 3 for him in Rio – the Jamaicans qualified for the 4×100 final behind heat-winner Japan.
Just minutes later, 400-meter hurdler Dalilah Muhammad joined the American party on a now-damp Rio track. By Thursday night, that had evolved into a pretty great 24 hours. Tomas Walsh of New Zealand won bronze.
The United States also swept the men’s and women’s 400-meters hurdles starting in the morning with Kerron Clement finally getting the gold medal he wanted.
The unstoppable US track team might feel the same after collecting six more medals Thursday for a total of 24.
Denmark’s Sara Petersen won the silver medal ahead of Ashley Spencer of the United States.
In the semifinal, the Americans dropped the baton on the second exchange between Allyson Felix and Gardner, but only after Felix was clearly bumped by a Brazilian runner, which broke Felix’s momentum and prevented her from delivering the stick to Gardner. “Be patient, stay patient with each other, and just do your job”. But he equaled the Olympic record of 8,893 points – first set by Roman Sebrle at Athens 2004 – with his late boost in Wednesday’s final event.
Mayer wound up in second in the overall Decathlon standings, while Canada’s Damian Warner edged Germany’s Kai Kazmirek for the bronze.
Hurdler Clement was so confident of a first Olympic individual gold, he had his mother, Claudette, bring a star-spangled banner from home.
“Our relationship helps us because we understand what each other is doing, like physically and mentally”, she said.
“If you had written it out as a script I wouldn’t have believed it”, said Crouser, whose cousin Sam Crouser competed in the javelin in Rio. The American stormed to victory in 47.73 seconds, holding off the challenge of Kenya’s Boniface Tumuti, who won silver in 47.78.
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The Czech Republic’s Spotakova had to make do with bronze, with South Africa’s Sunette Viljoen claiming silver.
