The Men's decathlon competition at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, United Kingdom, was held at the Olympic Stadium on 8–9 August. From the outset, new world record holder Ashton Eaton dominated the events with teammate

Trey Hardee James Edward "Trey" Hardee III (born February 7, 1984, in Birmingham, Alabama) is a retired American track and field athlete who specialized in the combined events. He is a former NCAA Champion, a two-time World Outdoor Champion, a member of t ...

his closest competitor. Notable for his early exit, 2004 champion and former world record holder Roman Šebrle withdrew after finishing last in the 100 m. Eaton's 10.35

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

was the top time of the day, Hardee's 10.42 the next best. His 8.03 long jump was almost half a metre further than any other competitor. Dmitriy Karpov won the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

, but Eaton's 14.66 was just 12 cm short of his personal record.

Leonel Suárez Leonel Suárez Fajardo (born September 1, 1987) is a decathlete from Cuba. He was bronze medalist in the event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2008 Summer Olympics and silver medalist at the 2009 World Championships. He won a third consecutive ...

won the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, but Eaton tied with several members of the field for second best. And Eaton's 46.90

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

was over a full second faster than anybody else in the field.

Damian Warner Damian David George Warner (born November 4, 1989) is a Canadian track and field athlete specializing in decathlon. He is the Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's decathlon, 2020 Olympic champion and a three-time World Athletics Champ ...

had a 40-point advantage for third position after the first day. Hardee started day two off with a victory over Eaton in the

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

, but it was only .02, narrowing the gap by 3 points. Rico Freimuth was the top discus thrower, with Hardee 85 cm behind him. Eaton's discus was 5.75 m less, giving Hardee almost an extra 120 point dent into the gap. Eaton more than gained that back with the third best pole vault of the day, while Hardee was 40 cm back. In the javelin throw,

put more than 10 meters on the rest of the contenders, to solidly place himself in bronze medal position. Hardee was the third best thrower, but his gap was not as large as he needed while Eaton set a new personal best in the event. With Eaton holding a 150+ point lead, Hardee a 70-point lead over Suárez, who held an 80-point lead over a crowd of his nearest challengers, the medals were fairly well set before the gun in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

. Hans van Alphen led the way to move into fourth place, but nobody made a serious run at improving their medals, instead choosing to just finish the last event. For Suárez, it was his second Olympic bronze medal in a row.

Competition format

The

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

consists of ten track and field events, with a points system that awards higher scores for better results in each of the ten components. The athletes all compete in one competition with no elimination rounds. At the end of competition, if two athletes are tied, the athlete who has received more points in the greater number of events is the winner.

Schedule

All times are

British Summer Time During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC±00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and ev ...

( UTC+1)

Records

, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

Overall results

;Key:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's decathlon

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Men's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics