Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's decathlon


These are the official results of the men's decathlon competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. There were a total number of 26 participating athletes, with the competition starting on August 8, 1984 and ending on August 9, 1984.

Medalists

Abbreviations

Schedule

Records

Earlier in 1984 the IAAF had updated its decathlon scoring tables; the tables set in 1962 would be replaced on 1 April 1985. The world record performance at the changeover date would be recalculated using the new tables and become the new world record. In the event that another performance had a lower total on the 1962 tables but a higher one on the 1984 tables, it would not supersede the pre-existing record.
These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics:
Record1962 tables1984 tablesAthleteVenueDate
World Record87988832 Jürgen HingsenMannheim June 9, 1984
Olympic Record8618/86178634 Bruce JennerMontreal July 30, 1976

Daley Thompson's time in the Olympic 110mH was initially recorded as 14.34, on which basis he started the final 1500m needing 4:34.8 to beat Hingsen's world record, or 4:34.9 to equal it. After slowing at the end to enjoy his triumph, he finished in 4:35.0, giving a points total of 8797, one below the world record. The time was over 14 seconds outside his personal best. Under the 1984 tables Thompson's 8797 scored 8846, whereas Hingsen's 8798 was only 8832. Nevertheless, Hingsen retained the record under the IAAF's grandfather rule.
In 1986, the IAAF re-examined the photo finish of Thompson's Olympic 110mH, found it was one-thousandth of a second faster than initially thought, and rounded his time down from 14.34 to 14.33. This gave him one extra point, thereby retrospectively equalling Hingsen's 8798 under the 1962 tables, and scoring 8847 on the 1984 tables. The IAAF ruled on 15 July 1986 that Thompson was co-holder of the world record from 9 August 1984 until 1 April 1985, and sole holder thereafter.

Results

RankAthleteNationality100mLJSPHJ400m110m HDTPVJT1500mPointsNotes
Daley Thompson10.448.0115.722.0346.9714.3346.565.0065.244:35.008798EWR
Jürgen Hingsen10.917.8015.872.1247.6914.2950.824.5060.444:22.608673
Siegfried Wentz10.997.1115.872.0947.7814.3546.604.5067.684:33.968412
Guido Kratschmer10.807.4015.931.9449.2514.6647.284.9069.404:47.998326
William Motti11.287.4514.422.0648.1314.7150.924.5063.764:35.158266
John Crist11.336.98w14.052.0648.4515.0146.184.8061.884:23.788130
Jim Wooding11.047.0113.901.9747.6214.5747.384.6057.204:28.318091
Dave Steen11.207.41w12.572.0348.0915.3944.044.8056.924:17.708047
Georg Werthner11.416.9613.801.9449.4415.3641.184.7076.964:16.418012
10Michele Rüfenacht10.726.9613.862.0048.6314.5745.304.3055.104:39.477924
11Bradley McStravick10.926.8213.381.9448.6815.0145.544.3061.544:25.157890
12Tim Bright11.226.7513.802.0048.8714.5241.745.4053.664:49.277862
13Patrick Vetterli11.447.1313.882.0349.8315.1443.824.5064.664:55.067739
14Peter Hadfield11.157.1313.681.7648.5015.0543.364.5055.224:25.907683
15Weng Kangqiang11.287.3012.451.8850.5215.2138.744.6069.724:34.107662
16Ku Chin-shui11.426.8912.762.0350.5914.9139.704.9062.364:50.757629
17Trond Skramstad11.207.1814.201.8549.2515.0840.024.5054.944:43.027579
18Douglas Fernández11.596.7413.121.8849.8316.0543.524.4067.124:23.967553
19Lee Fu-an10.987.0013.022.0349.6715.4937.104.5054.964:45.877541
20Colin Boreham11.466.9013.511.9750.1915.4844.104.2052.664:32.507485
21Mohamed Mansour Salah11.516.6211.541.8852.0416.2036.263.5045.024:35.646589
22Claudio Escauriza11.666.5114.101.8253.0617.5147.764.0064.166546
23Fidel Solórzano11.156.9910.091.9449.2416.2233.543.1048.665:07.386519
24Ángel Díaz11.546.489.621.9152.0816.0228.683.3047.964:26.116342
25Vivian Coralie11.375.84w9.791.8251.2816.3932.923.0041.584:26.266084
Albert Miller11.486.3213.071.9150.2215.3638.46

Aftermath

Thompson's irreverence during the medal ceremony and press conference attracted some criticism. While his heel-click jump off the podium was unproblematic, his t-shirts with slogans and off-colour jokes were seen by some as beneath the dignity of the occasion.

Footnotes