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| Event type

Decathlon, Men

Date8 – 9 August 1984
StatusOlympic
LocationLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
Participants26 from 18 countries
FormatScoring by 1962/1977 point tables.

By 1984 the defending gold medalist, Daley Thompson, was dominant in the decathlon. He had not lost a decathlon since the 1978 European Championships, winning the 1982 European and Commonwealth titles, and was 1984 World Champion. But his victory in Los Angeles was not a foregone conclusion. Thompson no longer held the world record, that mark having been broken three times since 1982 by West German Jürgen Hingsen. Hingsen’s teammates, Siggi Wentz and 1976 silver medalist Guido Kratschmer were also expected to push Thompson. The Soviet-led boycott had minimal effect in 1984, with East German Siegfried Stark the only top international decathlete absent. Despite the German threat, Thompson was superb. He won the first two events, the 100 and long jump, with 10.44 and 8.01 and opened up a lead he never relinquished. He led Hingsen by 210 points after the javelin and coasted in the 1,500 to win the gold medal. Hingsen, Wentz, and Kratschmer finished second, third, and fourth. Thompson’s original mark of 8,797 missed Hingsen’s world record by one point, but a re-read of the photo finishes converted it to 8,798 and equal to Hingsen’s mark. Then in 1985, new decathlon tables were introduced and Thompson’s converted mark became 8,847 and the world record.

PosNumberCompetitorNOCPointsPoints (1985 Auto Tables)
1398Daley ThompsonGBR87988847GoldWR
2316Jürgen HingsenFRG86738695SilverOR
3343Siggi WentzFRG84128416Bronze
4324Guido KratschmerFRG83268357
5296William MottiFRA82668278
6894John CristUSA81308115
7948Jim WoodingUSA80918054
8143Dave SteenCAN80478025
947Georg WerthnerAUT80128028
10794Michele RüfenachtSUI79247855
11383Brad McStravickGBR78907830
12886Tim BrightUSA78627862
13796Patrick VetterliSUI77397717
1427Peter HadfieldAUS76837633
15170Weng KangqiangCHN76627662
16845Ku Chin-ShuiTPE76297614
17686Trond SkramstadNOR75797522
18949Douglas FernándezVEN75537505
19846Lee Fu-AnTPE75417471
20355Colin BorehamGBR74857400
21744Mohamed Mansour SalahQAT65896477
22711Claudio EscaurizaPAR65466290
23207Fidel SolórzanoECU65196439
24434Ángel DíazGUA63426272
25652Vivian CoralieMRI60846008
DNF247Albert MillerFIJ