Bryan Clay: the future of decathlon

After winning a welldeserved silver medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, decathlete Bryan Clay of the USA is working hard and aims at being among the top finishers in the Athens Olympics. Paul Gains reports

Decathlon has been glorified as an arduous test of speed, strength and stamina, a contest where the last man standing is touted as some sort of all powerful conqueror. The competitors themselves might call it “ten chances to mess up!”

Regardless of one’s perspective there is no greater stage for the event than the Olympic Games where the victor earns the title “World’s Greatest Athlete” and all the accolades (and endorsements) that go with it!

Though he is hardly the heavy favourite to claim the gold medal - that label has already been hung around World record holder Roman Sebrle - American decathlete Bryan Clay bears watching in Athens. Should Sebrle, Tom Pappas, the reigning World outoor decathlon champion, and other big names, falter the Hawaiian native could provide the upset that often occurs on such occasions.

Young - he turned 24 years of age in January - and growing in confidence by the week, Clay has absorbed as much as he can from the likes of Sebrle, Pappas, Tomas Dvorak and all the decathletes he clearly admires and with whom he has shared war stories. And winning a heptathlon silver medal at the 2004 World Indoor Championships in a personal best of 6365 points underscored his incredible natural ability.

His personal best decathlon score of 8482 points might seem far off what will be required to put himself in the medal picture but the beauty of the decathlon is there are ten opportunities to set personal bests. Clay is also a proven competitor twice earning a place in the U.S. World outdoor championship teams.

Injury has proven a colossal impediment though. In Paris last year he suffered a hamstring tear just four days before the competition began. Yet, he lined up - against the advice of U.S. team doctors - and bravely finished five events before he could go no further.

“The reason we have had injuries during the World Championships is just because of the fact I had the collegiate season right before,” he says. “Last year was a transition year, but it took a year to get off the collegiate schedule. I mean I was still doing meets every single weekend last year, running around doing four or five events at a meet, and training hard and lifting hard, then all of a sudden toward the end of the year things just seemed to fall apart.”

“I feel really good about the US trials. I feel really good about the Olympics. I am really excited to do both. I have been looking forward to doing them for so long. I feel confident, I feel like I am going to do well and that I will compete well. I am in really good shape.”

Running a personal best 100m time of 10.39 seconds at the Mount SAC relays in April was a brilliant start to his Olympic campaign and he reckons he can translate that speed into personal bests in other events.

“The events I improved in at World Indoors are the same events that will carry over into the outdoor events. And the events that I didn’t do indoors, I am not saying I am the best in the world, but I am pretty strong in them. Javelin, 400m, discus those are three strong events for me,” says Clay confidently. “I think that there is going to be a lot to come this summer and I think I am going to give everyone a run for their money. It’s going to be really exciting.”

A decent all around athlete while attending Castle High School in Keneohe, Hawaii Clay met eventual 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Chris Huffins at a track and field camp. The meeting was inspirational to the young man.

“Chris Huffins has been very instrumental in my career,” says Clay, “He was the one who encouraged me to do the decathlon and the one to introduce me to my coach Kevin Neil.”

Clay eventually enrolled at Azuza Pacific in California where Neil is the head track coach and enjoyed a strong collegiate career winning the NAIA championships decathlon in 2000. Since graduation he has been helping his coach with the young athletes. In fact his younger brother is a student athlete there competing in the jumping events. Clay is not paid for the time but he does occasionally travel with the team as part of the “extended family” making sure the athletes follow through with physiotherapy and such.

He has an agent, Paul Doyle, and a couple of sponsorship deals with Nike and Oakley Sunglasses, but it is apparent that money is tight. The $20,000 he won in Budapest was a welcome pot of gold. Were it not for the generosity of his wife, Sarah Smith, who is a kindergarten school teacher in Azusa, he would struggle in the sport.

“It’s tough,” he admits. “We are trying to find sponsors for Olympics and things like that. It’s really hard for a decathlete. We are not racing every weekend and it's not really a marquee event - until the Olympic year. It’s really tough. I basically live off my wife who is generous enough to allow me to continue my Olympic dream.”

The association with the team is beneficial to both the athletes and to Clay himself. It is an extension of the relationship decathletes have with one another, a relationship that is unique to their brotherhood.

A year ago Clay entered a high level competition - he doesn’t say which event - where he competed in an individual event. Unlike the atmosphere that pervades the two days of decathlon he found the aggressive posturing too much to bear.

“It was just an eye-opener for me. It was a shocker!” he recalls. “I just could not believe the amount of trash talking the amount of showboating, all the mental games people were playing, I went and jumped and PRed. I felt good about my performance. It is so very different.”

“I am so glad I am in the event I am in, even though I think it is one of the harder events in track and field. I think it is definitely one of the most rewarding when it comes down to friendships. I can call any one of those guys and say ‘I am going to be in town for two weeks can I crash at your place?’ And I am almost certain that every single one of them would allow me to come and train with them and sleep over at their houses. I don’t know if it would be the same for a100m runner or a long jumper.”

A year ago he competed at Erki Nool’s multi event competition in Estonia and thoroughly enjoyed the post event camaraderie. Over dinner he chatted for two hours with Sebrle, Nool, Tomas Dvorak and their coaches absorbing all their advice and experience.

“I have competed against Roman now three or four times and I think that every time I compete against him we become better friends. Tom and I are good friends. Steven Harris, Paul Terrick we are all really good friends. Tomas Dvorak, they are all so willing to help,” he explains. “It’s like they want to see the sport do well. When the young people are coming up they are so willing to help. We talk and we have a good time and we help each other out on the track. At the same time we know what our job is and we know what we need to do and when it is our turn to step up and do it that’s what we do.”

This season he has added caution to his training blend.

While most of his competitors were battling at the 30th anniversary edition of the Hypo meeting in Gotzis, May 29-30, Clay was carefully following Neil’s outline for Olympic success. The invitation to compete at the event was hard to turn down but he hopes in the long run the decision he and Neil took was the right one.

“I was invited to Gotzis and I really, really wanted to do it. But when it got closer to the time I started getting worried I started thinking ‘this is going to be a better meet than the Olympic Games,’” he explains. “For a US athlete what is really hard is we still have to make our team. We have to finish in the top three at the trials so you can make the team. And I was getting worried about having to compete at that level - not that I don’t think I can compete at that level - but having to compete and score 8700 points then having to do the same thing at the trials and then six weeks later having to come back and do the same thing at the Olympic Games. So the timing wasn’t right this year.”

In conversation the number 8700 frequently comes up. It is a number he believes will earn a medal. And it is a number he fully expects to see alongside his name on the Athens Olympic scoreboard.

Published in IAAF Magazine Issue 2 - 2004