Combined events at the Olympics

Athletics events at the Olympics with scores based on multiple events

"World's Greatest Athlete" redirects here. For the Disney film, see The World's Greatest Athlete.

"Olympic decathlon" redirects here. For the 1980 video game, see Olympic Decathlon.

This article is about combined track and field events. For the modern pentathlon, see Modern pentathlon at the Summer Olympics.

Combined events
at the Olympic Games

Men competing in the 1500 m of the 1948 Olympic decathlon

Overview
Sport| Athletics
Gender| Men and women
Years held| Men's decathlon: 1912 – 2024
Women's heptathlon: 1984 – 2024
Women's pentathlon: 1964 – 1980
Olympic record
Men| 9018 pts Damian Warner (2020)
Women| 7291 pts Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1988)
Reigning champion
Men|  Markus Rooth (NOR)
Women|  Nafissatou Thiam (BEL)

Combined events at the Summer Olympics have been contested in several formats at the multi-sport event. There are two combined track and field events in the current Olympic athletics programme: a men's decathlon (100 metres, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 metres, 110 metres hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1500 metres) and a women's heptathlon (100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 metres, long jump, javelin throw, and 800 metres).

The first men's events came at the 1904 Summer Olympics: a triathlon had long jump, shot put, and 100-yard dash events, while an all-around championship saw athletes compete over ten events, forming the basis for the decathlon.[1] No combined events were held at the subsequent games, but the 1912 Summer Olympics saw the introduction of the modern decathlon event and also a men's pentathlon (which lasted for three games). The first women's event came in 1964 in the form of the women's pentathlon. This was amended to include two more events, becoming the heptathlon at the 1984 Summer Olympics, reflecting the development of women's sport.

The Olympic record in the decathlon is 9018 points, set by Canadian athlete Damian Warner in 2021. Jackie Joyner-Kersee's score of 7291 points to win in 1988 is both the current Olympic and world record for the heptathlon – this remains the only occasion that record has been broken at the Olympics. The men's decathlon world record has had a strong link with the competition, with the Olympic gold medalist breaking the world record in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1952, 1972, 1976, and 1984.[2]

Five men have won two Olympic combined event titles. Bob Mathias, Daley Thompson and Ashton Eaton have all won back-to-back decathlon titles, Jim Thorpe won both the decathlon and pentathlon titles in 1912, and Eero Lehtonen won two Olympic pentathlon titles. Nafissatou Thiam is the most successful athlete, having won three Olympic heptathlon titles, she is, alongside Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the only one with three Olympic combined events medals.

In 1912, Thorpe was designated the "World's Greatest Athlete" by Gustav V of Sweden and this title is traditionally given to the reigning Olympic decathlon champion in the media.[3][4] Thorpe's two gold medals were stripped in 1913 on the grounds that he had broken amateurism rules (having taken expense money for playing baseball), but the International Olympic Committee restored him as the champion in 1982, 30 years after his death, admitting that the protest against Thorpe’s eligibility was not brought within the required 30 days (other medalists were not demoted).[5]

The 1906 Intercalated Games, now not considered an official Olympic event, featured an event based on the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, combining four track and field events with a wrestling match.

## Medal summary

[edit]

### Men's decathlon

[edit]

Games  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

edit

1912 Stockholm
details | Jim Thorpe
United States | Hugo Wieslander
Sweden
Charles Lomberg
Sweden | Gösta Holmér
Sweden
1920 Antwerp
details | Helge Løvland
Norway | Brutus Hamilton
United States | Bertil Ohlson
Sweden
1924 Paris
details | Harold Osborn
United States | Emerson Norton
United States | Aleksander Klumberg
Estonia
1928 Amsterdam
details | Paavo Yrjölä
Finland | Akilles Järvinen
Finland | Ken Doherty
United States
1932 Los Angeles
details | Jim Bausch
United States | Akilles Järvinen
Finland | Wolrad Eberle
Germany
1936 Berlin
details | Glenn Morris
United States | Bob Clark
United States | Jack Parker
United States
1948 London
details | Bob Mathias
United States | Ignace Heinrich
France | Floyd Simmons
United States
1952 Helsinki
details | Bob Mathias
United States | Milt Campbell
United States | Floyd Simmons
United States
1956 Melbourne
details | Milt Campbell
United States | Rafer Johnson
United States | Vasili Kuznetsov
Soviet Union
1960 Rome
details | Rafer Johnson
United States | Yang Chuan-kwang
Formosa | Vasili Kuznetsov
Soviet Union
1964 Tokyo
details | Willi Holdorf
United Team of Germany | Rein Aun
Soviet Union | Hans-Joachim Walde
United Team of Germany
1968 Mexico City
details | Bill Toomey
United States | Hans-Joachim Walde
West Germany | Kurt Bendlin
West Germany
1972 Munich
details | Mykola Avilov
Soviet Union | Leonid Lytvynenko
Soviet Union | Ryszard Katus
Poland
1976 Montreal
details | Bruce Jenner[a]
United States | Guido Kratschmer
West Germany | Mykola Avilov
Soviet Union
1980 Moscow
details | Daley Thompson
Great Britain | Yuriy Kutsenko
Soviet Union | Sergei Zhelanov
Soviet Union
1984 Los Angeles
details | Daley Thompson
Great Britain | Jürgen Hingsen
West Germany | Siegfried Wentz
West Germany
1988 Seoul
details | Christian Schenk
East Germany | Torsten Voss
East Germany | Dave Steen
Canada
1992 Barcelona
details | Robert Změlík
Czechoslovakia | Antonio Peñalver
Spain | Dave Johnson
United States
1996 Atlanta
details | Dan O'Brien
United States | Frank Busemann
Germany | Tomáš Dvořák
Czech Republic
2000 Sydney
details | Erki Nool
Estonia | Roman Šebrle
Czech Republic | Chris Huffins
United States
2004 Athens
details | Roman Šebrle
Czech Republic | Bryan Clay
United States | Dmitriy Karpov
Kazakhstan
2008 Beijing
details | Bryan Clay
United States | Andrei Krauchanka
Belarus | Leonel Suárez
Cuba
2012 London
details | Ashton Eaton
United States | Trey Hardee
United States | Leonel Suárez
Cuba
2016 Rio De Janeiro
details | Ashton Eaton
United States | Kevin Mayer
France | Damian Warner
Canada
2020 Tokyo
details | Damian Warner
Canada | Kevin Mayer
France | Ashley Moloney
Australia
2024 Paris
details | Markus Rooth
Norway | Leo Neugebauer
Germany | Lindon Victor
Grenada

#### Multiple medalists

[edit]

Rank  | Athlete  | Nation  | Olympics  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze  | Total

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1= | Bob Mathias |  United States (USA) | 1948–1952 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2
1= | Daley Thompson |  Great Britain (GBR) | 1980–1984 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2
1= | Ashton Eaton |  United States (USA) | 2008–2016 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2
4= | Milt Campbell |  United States (USA) | 1952–1956 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2
4= | Rafer Johnson |  United States (USA) | 1956–1960 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2
4= | Roman Šebrle |  Czech Republic (CZE) | 2000–2004 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2
4= | Bryan Clay |  United States (USA) | 2004–2008 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2
8= | Mykola Avilov |  Soviet Union (URS) | 1972–1976 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2
8= | Damian Warner |  Canada (CAN) | 2016–2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2
10= | Akilles Järvinen |  Finland (FIN) | 1928–1932 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2
10= | Kevin Mayer |  France (FRA) | 2016–2020 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2
12 | Hans-Joachim Walde |  West Germany (FRG)
United Team of Germany (EUA) | 1964–1968 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2
13= | Floyd Simmons |  United States (USA) | 1948–1952 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2
13= | Vasili Kuznetsov |  Soviet Union (URS) | 1956–1960 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2
13= | Leonel Suárez |  Cuba (CUB) | 2008–2012 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2

#### Medals by country

[edit]

Rank  | Nation  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze  | Total

|
|
|
|
|

1 |  United States (USA) | 14 | 8 | 7 | 29
2= |  Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2
2= |  Norway (NOR) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2
4 |  Soviet Union (URS) | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8
5 |  Germany (GER)[nb] | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5
6 |  Finland (FIN) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3
7 |  Sweden (SWE) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4
8 |  Czech Republic (CZE) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3
9 |  East Germany (GDR) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2
10 |  Canada (CAN) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3
11 |  Estonia (EST) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2
12 |  Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
13 |  West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5
14 |  France (FRA) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3
15= |  Belarus (BLR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1
15= |  Chinese Taipei (TPE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1
15= |  Spain (ESP) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1
18 |  Cuba (CUB) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2
19= |  Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1
19= |  Poland (POL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1
19= |  Australia (AUS) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1
19= |  Grenada (GRN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1

* nb The German total includes teams both competing as Germany and the United Team of Germany, but not East or West Germany.

### Women's heptathlon

[edit]

Games  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

edit

1984 Los Angeles
details | Glynis Nunn
Australia | Jackie Joyner
United States | Sabine Everts
West Germany
1988 Seoul
details | Jackie Joyner-Kersee
United States | Sabine John
East Germany | Anke Behmer
East Germany
1992 Barcelona
details | Jackie Joyner-Kersee
United States | Irina Belova
Unified Team | Sabine Braun
Germany
1996 Atlanta
details | Ghada Shouaa
Syria | Natallia Sazanovich
Belarus | Denise Lewis
Great Britain
2000 Sydney
details | Denise Lewis
Great Britain | Yelena Prokhorova
Russia | Natallia Sazanovich
Belarus
2004 Athens
details | Carolina Klüft
Sweden | Austra Skujytė
Lithuania | Kelly Sotherton
Great Britain
2008 Beijing
details | Nataliya Dobrynska
Ukraine | Hyleas Fountain
United States | Kelly Sotherton
Great Britain
2012 London
details | Jessica Ennis
Great Britain | Lilli Schwarzkopf
Germany | Austra Skujytė
Lithuania
2016 Rio de Janeiro
details | Nafissatou Thiam
Belgium | Jessica Ennis-Hill
Great Britain | Brianne Theisen-Eaton
Canada
2020 Tokyo
details | Nafissatou Thiam
Belgium | Anouk Vetter
Netherlands | Emma Oosterwegel
Netherlands
2024 Paris
details | Nafissatou Thiam
Belgium | Katarina Johnson-Thompson
Great Britain | Noor Vidts
Belgium

#### Multiple medalists

[edit]

Seven women have won multiple medals in Olympic heptathlon, while an eighth achieved this feat in the earlier Olympic Pentathlon. Of these, only Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Nafissatou Thiam have won three medals. Only Nafissatou Thiam won three titles.

Rank  | Athlete  | Nation  | Olympics  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze  | Total

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1 | Nafissatou Thiam |  Belgium (BEL) | 2016–2024 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3
2 | Jackie Joyner-Kersee |  United States (USA) | 1984–1992 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3
3 | Jessica Ennis |  Great Britain (GBR) | 2012–2016 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2
4 | Denise Lewis |  Great Britain (GBR) | 1996–2000 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2
5= | Natallia Sazanovich |  Belarus (BLR) | 1996–2000 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2
Austra Skujytė |  Lithuania (LTU) | 2004–2012 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2
7 | Kelly Sotherton |  Great Britain (GBR) | 2004–2008 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2
[b] | Burglinde Pollak |  East Germany (GDR) | 1972–1976 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2

1. ^ Jenner is now known as Caitlyn due to gender transition in 2015.[6]
2. ^ Pentathlon medalist

#### Medals by country

[edit]

Rank  | Nation  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze  | Total

|
|
|
|
|

1 |  Belgium (BEL) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4
2 |  Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7
3 |  United States (USA) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4
4= |  Australia (AUS) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
4= |  Sweden (SWE) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
4= |  Syria (SYR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
4= |  Ukraine (UKR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
8= |  Russia (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2
8= |  Belarus (BLR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2
8= |  East Germany (GDR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2
8= |  Germany (GER) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2
8= |  Lithuania (LTU) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2
8= |  Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2
14 |  Unified Team (EUN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1
15= |  Canada (CAN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1
15= |  West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1

## Defunct events

[edit]

### Men's all-around

[edit]

Consisted of 100 yards, shot put, high jump, 880 yd walk, hammer throw, pole vault, 120 yd hurdles, weight throw, long jump and mile run.

Games  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

1904 St. Louis
details |  Tom Kiely (GBR) |  Adam Gunn (USA) |  Truxtun Hare (USA)

### Men's triathlon

[edit]

Consisted of long jump, shot put, and 100 yards.

Games  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

1904 St. Louis
details |  Max Emmerich (USA) |  John Grieb (USA) |  William Merz (USA)

### Men's pentathlon

[edit]

Consisted of long jump, javelin throw, 200 metres, discus throw, and 1500 metres. Eero Lehtonen was the most successful athlete in the event's three-edition history, winning two of the three gold medals on offer and being the only person to reach the podium twice.

Games  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

1912 Stockholm
details | Jim Thorpe
United States | Ferdinand Bie
Norway
James Donahue
United States | Frank Lukeman
Canada
1920 Antwerp
details | Eero Lehtonen
Finland | Everett Bradley
United States | Hugo Lahtinen
Finland
1924 Paris
details | Eero Lehtonen
Finland | Elemér Somfay
Hungary | Robert LeGendre
United States

### Women's pentathlon

[edit]

Consisted of 100 metres hurdles, shot put, high jump, long jump, and 200 metres. In 1980, the 200 metres was replaced by the 800 metres. Burglinde Pollak, a bronze medalist in 1972 and 1976, was the only woman to win two Olympic pentathlon medals during its five-edition history.

Games  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

1964 Tokyo
details | Irina Press
Soviet Union | Mary Rand
Great Britain | Galina Bystrova
Soviet Union
1968 Mexico City
details | Ingrid Becker
West Germany | Liese Prokop
Austria | Annamária Tóth
Hungary
1972 Munich
details | Mary Peters
Great Britain | Heide Rosendahl
West Germany | Burglinde Pollak
East Germany
1976 Montreal
details | Siegrun Siegl
East Germany | Christine Laser
East Germany | Burglinde Pollak
East Germany
1980 Moscow
details | Nadiya Tkachenko
Soviet Union | Olga Rukavishnikova
Soviet Union | Olga Kuragina
Soviet Union

## Intercalated Games

[edit]

The 1906 Intercalated Games were held in Athens and at the time were officially recognised as part of the Olympic Games series, with the intention being to hold a games in Greece in two-year intervals between the internationally held Olympics. However, this plan never came to fruition and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) later decided not to recognise these games as part of the official Olympic series. Some sports historians continue to treat the results of these games as part of the Olympic canon.[7]

No strictly track and field combined event featured on the programme, as happened at the 1904 Summer Olympics, but the Greeks introduced a variation of the Ancient Olympic pentathlon. This contained four track and field events – standing long jump, ancient-style discus throw, javelin throw and a stadion race (192 m) – with the final event being Greco-Roman wrestling.[8]

American Martin Sheridan was the initial favourite, having already won gold and silver medals in individual jump and throws events, but dropped out due to injury. Lawson Robertson and István Mudin each won two of the rounds (Robertson the long jump and stadion, Mudin the discus and wrestling), but it was Sweden's Hjalmar Mellander who won the gold medal with 24 points. The Swede never finished in the top two of a round, but he performed consistently, never below seventh place in the 27-man field. Mudin of Hungary took a close second place with 25 points.[8] Third place was taken by another Swede, Eric Lemming, who later went on to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals in the javelin throw.[9]

Games  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

1906 Athens
details |  Hjalmar Mellander (SWE) |  István Mudin (HUN) |  Eric Lemming (SWE)

## Notes

[edit]

## References

[edit]

Participation and athlete data

* Athletics Athletics Men's Pentathlon Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
* Athletics Men's Decathlon Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
* Athletics Men's All-Around Championship Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
* Athletics Women's Pentathlon Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
* Athletics Women's Heptathlon Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.

Olympic record progressions

* Mallon, Bill (2012). TRACK & FIELD ATHLETICS - OLYMPIC RECORD PROGRESSIONS. Track and Field News. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.

Specific

1. ^ Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's Decathlon. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-05-23.
2. ^ 12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009 Archived August 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (pages 546, 559–60, 649). IAAF (2009). Retrieved on 2011-05-07.
3. ^ Bryan Clay claims decathlon gold, title as world's greatest athlete
4. ^ Bryan Clay Wins Olympic Decathlon Gold, World's Greatest Athlete Is an American
5. ^ Jim Thorpe. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-05-23.
6. ^ Buzz Bissinger (June 1, 2015). "Introducing Caitlyn Jenner". Vanity Fair. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
7. ^ 1906 Athina Summer Games. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.
8. ^ a b Athletics at the 1906 Athina Summer Games: Men's Pentathlon (Ancient). Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
9. ^ Eric Lemming. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.

## External links

[edit]

* IAAF heptathlon homepage
* IAAF decathlon homepage
* Official Olympics website
* Olympic athletics records from Track & Field News

* v
* t
* e

Combined events at the Olympic Games

Summary

Men's decathlon|

* 1912
* 1920
* 1924
* 1928
* 1932
* 1936
* 1948
* 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* 1976
* 1980
* 1984
* 1988
* 1992
* 1996
* 2000
* 2004
* 2008
* 2012
* 2016
* 2020
* 2024

Women's pentathlon|

* 1912
* 1920
* 1924
* 1928
* 1932
* 1936
* 1948
* 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* 1976
* 1980
* 1984
* 1988
* 1992
* 1996
* 2000
* 2004
* 2008
* 2012
* 2016
* 2020
* 2024

Women's heptathlon|

* 1912
* 1920
* 1924
* 1928
* 1932
* 1936
* 1948
* 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* 1976
* 1980
* 1984
* 1988
* 1992
* 1996
* 2000
* 2004
* 2008
* 2012
* 2016
* 2020
* 2024

Other variations: Men's All-Around: 1904 • Men's Triathlon: 1904 • Men's Pentathlon: 1912 • 1920 • 1924

* v
* t
* e

Athletics at the Summer Olympics

Editions|

* 1896
* 1900
* 1904
* 1906 (Intercalated)
* 1908
* 1912
* 1920
* 1924
* 1928
* 1932
* 1936
* 1948
* 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* 1976
* 1980
* 1984
* 1988
* 1992
* 1996
* 2000
* 2004
* 2008
* 2012
* 2016
* 2020
* 2024

Events|

| Track|

* 100 m
* 200 m
* 400 m
* 800 m
* 1500 m
* 5000 m
* 10,000 m
* 4 × 100 m relay
* 4 × 400 m relay
* Sprint hurdles
* 400 m hurdles
* Steeplechase

|

Field|

* Shot put
* Discus throw
* Hammer throw
* Javelin throw
* Pole vault
* High jump
* Long jump
* Triple jump

Others|

* Combined events
* Marathon
* Race walking

Defunct|

* Cross country
* Team races
* 60 metres
* Weight throw
* Wheelchair racing
* Professional events
* Handicap events

* List of medalists
* men
* women
* Records
* Venues
* Medal sweeps

*[v]: View this template
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*[e]: Edit this template