Decathlon, Men

With Bob Mathias retired, the top two Americans were Milt Campbell and Rafer Johnson. Campbell had won the silver medal in 1952 and won the 1953 AAU Championship. Johnson began contesting the decathlon in 1954, broke the world record and won the Pan-American Games in 1955, and won the 1956 AAU/Olympic Trials, with Campbell second. But at Melbourne, Johnson was slightly injured, with a bad knee. But Campbell would have been difficult to beat, even if Johnson was at his best, as he won the gold medal by 350 points. Johnson later commented, “I lost to a good man.” The bronze medal went to the Soviet decathlete, Vasily Kuznetsov, who had won the 1954 European Championships.