Roman Sebrle celebrates winning the Decathlon (© Getty Images)
The Beijing Olympics Decathlon will see all the three medallists from the Athens Olympics competing for global glory once again. Gold medallist Roman Sebrle (CZE), silver medallist Bryan Clay (USA) and bronze medallist Dmitriy Karpov (KAZ) will all be there, but their preparation for the mightiest title there is hasn’t been the same.
The reigning Olympic and World champion and World record holder Sebrle is now 33 years old and has been hampered by injuries lately. The Czech star has a hamstring injury and his results during the 2008 season have not been as impressive as usual. Furthermore he did not finish the Heptathlon competition in Valencia at the World Indoor Championships and has only completed one Decathlon scoring a modest 8076 total points.
On the other hand American Bryan Clay, who has often had trouble finishing his competition in major championships, has hit top form during 2008 and is surely the number one pick for the gold in Beijing. Clay has only twice completed the Decathlon in major champs ending up with a gold medal in Helsinki World Championships 2005 and a silver in Athens Olympics 2004. He did not finish in Edmonton WCh 2001, Paris WCh 2003 and Osaka WCh 2007. Nevertheless Clay has scored a 8832 total points personal best winning the Olympic Trials this season and also won the World Indoor Championships heptathlon in Valencia.
27-year-old Dmitriy Karpov (KAZ) has already won three bronze medals from major championships and might be looking get a brighter one this time. Karpov won the Hypo-meeting in Götzis scoring a season’s best 8504 points and brought home the bronze medal from the World Indoor Championships.
Behind these three returning medallists the Decathlon competition is extremely open with several others looking for a good chance for a medal. Andrei Krauchanka (BLR), Trey Hardee (USA), Tom Pappas (USA), Aleksey Sysoyev (RUS), Leonel Suárez (CUB) and Osaka World Championships silver medallist Maurice Smith (JAM) are surely thinking about the possibility of a top finish.
Smith, who only narrowly lost to Sebrle in Osaka setting a 8644p NR then, has a good 8434 season’s best this year. 20-year-old Cuban Suárez is a newcomer at this level, but might upset a lot of people on his best day. The young athlete has a very evenly scored decathlon with no weak events and has recently bettered many personal bests. His best events include 1500m (4:16.70 PB), javelin (71.39m) and high jump (2.17m).
22-year-old Belarussian Krauchanka went to Osaka as a favourite, but could not finish the first event, 100m, there. The 2004 World Junior Champion is now a year older and has scored 8585 points this season. He also won the silver in Valencia at the World Indoor Championships and has set a number of personal bests in individual events during the season.
31-year-old American Tom Pappas is returning to top level competition. Pappas doesn’t have a medal from the Olympics, but he did win the 2003 World Championships in Paris. His 8511 season’s best score is his best since the 2004 season. 24-year-old countryman Trey Hardee comes to Beijing from a very different angle. He is starting his first major competition having scored 8534 total points for the second place at the Olympic Trials.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
