Events of the Modern Decathlon Quiz

Answer:

In the times of the Ancient Greek Olympics, athletes competed in a truncated version of this modern event, the pentathlon, which incorporated five key events designed to showcase skills in long jump, javelin throw, discus throw, stadion (running), and wrestling. The decathlon, consisting of ten events, is much more modern, having been completed in American competitions before being added into the Modern Olympics going into the twentieth century.

The decathlon takes place over two days with five being held on Day 1 and five on Day 2; these events are different on each day for men and women. All ten events are the same between genders save for the hurdles wherein men run 110m and women run 100m. Additionally, women face lower hurdles on the course and in 'throw' events, women use lighter implements (shot put, discus, and javelin).

The ten events are privy to a scoring system that varies for track and field events; track events are score heavily for time while field events are scored heavily for height or distance depending on the discipline. The winner is the person with the highest overall score at the end of all ten events, so your leaders are expected to be balanced between all of them or, at least, able to compensate for their weakest. It took until 2001 before any competitors were able to crack 9,000 points in a decathlon (it was Serbian Roman Sebrle, who won the gold at the Olympics in Athens in 2004).

The buck doesn't stop with the decathlon though. Tetradecathlons feature fourteen events (adding 200m and 400m hurdles, 200m, 800m, and 3000m sprints, and removing the pole vault) while icosathlons, or double decathlons, feature twenty (adding in triple jump and hammer throw, amongst others). Nonetheless, the decathlon is considered one of the ultimate tests of competitive athletics as its well-roundedness as a series of events helps determine who the 'world's greatest athlete' may be at any given time.