Activities Sports & Athletics Men's Olympic Decathlon Medalists 1912-2008 Share PINTEREST Email Print Hulton Archive / Getty Images Sports & Athletics Track & Field Records Events Baseball Basketball Bicycling Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Cricket Extreme Sports Football Golf Gymnastics Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Skating Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Volleyball Other Activities Learn More By Mike Rosenbaum Mike Rosenbaum is an award-winning sports writer covering various sports and events for more than 15 years. our editorial process Facebook Facebook Mike Rosenbaum Updated July 02, 2018 The decathlon has been an Olympic sport since 1912, when American Jim Thorpe won by almost 700 points. Although he was later stripped of his medal due to technical violations of the then-existing amateurism rules, Thorpe was reinstated as a co-champion in 1982. The IAAF began recognizing a decathlon world record in 1922 and the decathlon scoring rules were change before the 1936 Games. Read on to learn more about some of the great historical wins in this grueling Olympic competition. Top Competitors Bob Mathias set a decathlon world record at the 1952 Olympics and three more Olympic gold medalists set decathlon world records: Mykola Avilov in 1972, Bruce Jenner in 1976 and Daley Thompson, who tied the then-existing record in 1984. Mathias and Thompson are the only two-time Olympic decathlon champions. Nine other competitors have earned two Olympic decathlon medals apiece. 1912 GOLD *Jim Thorpe, USA 8412.955GOLD * Hugo Wieslander, SWE 7724.495SILVER Charles Lomberg, SWE 7413.510BRONZE Gösta Holmer, SWE 7347.855 1920 GOLD Helge Løvland, NOR 6804.355SILVER Brutus Hamilton, USA 6771.085BRONZE Bertil Ohlsson, SWE 6580.03 1924 GOLD Harold Osborn, USA 7710.775SILVER Emerson Norton, USA 7350.895BRONZE Aleksander Klumberg, EST 7329.36 1928 GOLD Paavo Yrjölä, FIN 8053.29SILVER Akilles Järvinen, FIN 7931.5BRONZE Ken Doherty, USA 7706.65 1932 GOLD Jim Bausch, USA 8462.235SILVER Akilles Järvinen, FIN 8292.48BRONZE Wolrad Eberle, GER 8030.805 1936 GOLD Glenn Morris, USA 7900SILVER Bob Clark, USA 7601BRONZE Jack Parker, USA 7275 1948 GOLD Bob Mathias, USA 7139SILVER Ignace Heinrich, FRA 6974BRONZE Floyd Simmons, USA 6950 1952 GOLD Bob Mathias, USA 7887SILVER Milt Campbell, USA 6975BRONZE Floyd Simmons, USA 6788 1956 GOLD Milt Campbell, USA 7937SILVER Rafer Johnson, USA 7587BRONZE Vasiliy Kuznetsov, URS 7465 1960 GOLD Rafer Johnson, USA 8392SILVER Yang Chuan-Kwang, TPE 8334BRONZE Vasiliy Kuznetsov, URS 7809 1964 GOLD Willi Holdorf, FRG 7887SILVER Rein Aun, URS 7842BRONZE Hans-Joachim Walde, GER 7809 1968 GOLD Bill Toomey, USA 8193SILVER Hans-Joachim Walde, GER 8111BRONZE Kurt Bendlin, FRG 8064 1972 GOLD Mykola Avilov, URS 8454SILVER Leonid Litvinenko, URS 8035BRONZE Ryszard Katus, POL 7984 1976 GOLD Bruce Jenner, USA 8618SILVER Guido Kratschmer, FRG 8411BRONZE Mykola Avilov, URS 8369 1980 GOLD Daley Thompson, GBR 8495SILVER Yuriy Kutsenko, URS 8331BRONZE Sergey Zhelanov, URS 8135 1984 GOLD Daley Thompson, GBR 8798SILVER Jϋrgen Hingsen, FRG 8673BRONZE Siegfried Wentz, FRG 8412 1988 GOLD Christian Schenk, GDR 8488SILVER Torsten Voss, GDR 8399BRONZE Dave Steen, CAN 8328 1992 GOLD Robert Zmelik, CZE 8611SILVER Antonio Peñalver, ESP 8412BRONZE Dave Johnson, USA 8309 1996 GOLD Dan O’Brien, USA 8824SILVER Frank Busemann, GER 8706BRONZE Tomás Dvorák, CZE 8664 2000 GOLD Erki Nool, EST 8641SILVER Román Sebrle, CZE 8606BRONZE Chris Huffins, USA 8595 2004 GOLD Román Sebrle, CZE 8893SILVER Bryan Clay, USA 8820BRONZE Dmitriy Karpov, KAZ 8725 2008 GOLD Bryan Clay, USA 8791SILVER Andrei Krauchanka, BLR 8551BRONZE Leonel Suárez, CUB 8527 2012 GOLD Ashton Eaton, USA 8869SILVER Trey Hardee, USA 8671BRONZE Leonel Suárez, CUB 8523 * Declared co-champions by the International Olympic Committee in 1982.