The Men's Decathlon at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

as part of the athletics program was held at the

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

on Wednesday 27 September and Thursday 28 September 2000. The winning margin was 36 points. As of 2023, this is the narrowest winning margin in the Olympic decathlon since the introduction of the 1984 scoring tables and the only time the Olympic decathlon has been won by fewer than 50 points over this same period. After the first day of the contest,

Chris Huffins Chris Huffins (born April 15, 1970) is an athlete from the United States who competed in the field of decathlon. He was the director and head coach of the men's and women's track and field and cross country programs at the University of Califo ...

found himself in an eight-point lead ahead of Dean Macey.

Erki Nool Erki Nool (born 25 June 1970) is an Estonian retired decathlete and former politician. Life and career Nool was born on 25 June 1970 in Võru. He grew up in an impoverished environment in the southern part of Võru. His father was a worker in ...

and Tom Pappas occupied the next places. On the next day, Nool dropped to fifth place after 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 (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a rac ...

but advanced again after the controversial discus contest. Starting with two foul attempts, Nool was originally fouled in his third and last attempt as well, which would have resulted in him getting 0 points and falling out of the leading group. However, Nool successfully appealed the ring-foul ruling and had his throw measured to 43.66 metres which saw him climb one place. The British delegation, representing Macey, protested to no avail. Following Nool's strong result in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

event Huffins' lead had shrunk to only 14 points before the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run 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 Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

. As this was a weak event for Huffins he looked set to lose out in the medal chase; however, he managed to lower his personal best time by twelve seconds and grasped a bronze medal. Reigning

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

and

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

holder

Tomáš Dvořák Tomáš Dvořák (), born 11 May 1972 in Gottwaldov (now Zlín), Czechoslovakia, is an athlete from the Czech Republic. He competed in the decathlon and heptathlon for the team ''Dukla Prague''. He is a three-time decathlon wo ...

struggled with a knee problem throughout the competition and finished in a disappointing sixth place.

Medalists

''Šebrle would go on to break the world record in 2001 and win the gold medal at the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in a new Olympic record. Huffins retired from international athletics after the end of the season.''

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in points) prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Results

Overall results

The best marks for each event were split between eight competitors with the gold medallist claiming none (which is unusual in an Olympic decathlon) but placing second in three of them. Flying points table after final event:

Sources

* IAAF results day one
100 m
an

Retrieved 27 January 2007. * IAAF results day two

an

Retrieved 27 January 2007. *IAAF results

Retrieved 27 January 2007. * *

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics - Men's decathlon

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Men's events at the 2000 Summer Olympics