Men's Olympic Decathlon Medalists 1912-2008

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.

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.

• GOLD *Jim Thorpe, USA 8412.955
• GOLD * Hugo Wieslander, SWE 7724.495
• SILVER Charles Lomberg, SWE 7413.510
• BRONZE Gösta Holmer, SWE 7347.855

• GOLD Helge Løvland, NOR 6804.355
• SILVER Brutus Hamilton, USA 6771.085
• BRONZE Bertil Ohlsson, SWE 6580.03

• GOLD Harold Osborn, USA 7710.775
• SILVER Emerson Norton, USA 7350.895
• BRONZE Aleksander Klumberg, EST 7329.36

• GOLD Paavo Yrjölä, FIN 8053.29
• SILVER Akilles Järvinen, FIN 7931.5
• BRONZE Ken Doherty, USA 7706.65

• GOLD Jim Bausch, USA 8462.235
• SILVER Akilles Järvinen, FIN 8292.48
• BRONZE Wolrad Eberle, GER 8030.805

• GOLD Glenn Morris, USA 7900
• SILVER Bob Clark, USA 7601
• BRONZE Jack Parker, USA 7275

• GOLD Bob Mathias, USA 7139
• SILVER Ignace Heinrich, FRA 6974
• BRONZE Floyd Simmons, USA 6950

• GOLD Bob Mathias, USA 7887
• SILVER Milt Campbell, USA 6975
• BRONZE Floyd Simmons, USA 6788

• GOLD Milt Campbell, USA 7937
• SILVER Rafer Johnson, USA 7587
• BRONZE Vasiliy Kuznetsov, URS 7465

• GOLD Rafer Johnson, USA 8392
• SILVER Yang Chuan-Kwang, TPE 8334
• BRONZE Vasiliy Kuznetsov, URS 7809

• GOLD Willi Holdorf, FRG 7887
• SILVER Rein Aun, URS 7842
• BRONZE Hans-Joachim Walde, GER 7809

• GOLD Bill Toomey, USA 8193
• SILVER Hans-Joachim Walde, GER 8111
• BRONZE Kurt Bendlin, FRG 8064

• GOLD Mykola Avilov, URS 8454
• SILVER Leonid Litvinenko, URS 8035
• BRONZE Ryszard Katus, POL 7984

• GOLD Bruce Jenner, USA 8618
• SILVER Guido Kratschmer, FRG 8411
• BRONZE Mykola Avilov, URS 8369

• GOLD Daley Thompson, GBR 8495
• SILVER Yuriy Kutsenko, URS 8331
• BRONZE Sergey Zhelanov, URS 8135

• GOLD Daley Thompson, GBR 8798
• SILVER Jϋrgen Hingsen, FRG 8673
• BRONZE Siegfried Wentz, FRG 8412

• GOLD Christian Schenk, GDR 8488
• SILVER Torsten Voss, GDR 8399
• BRONZE Dave Steen, CAN 8328

• GOLD Robert Zmelik, CZE 8611
• SILVER Antonio Peñalver, ESP 8412
• BRONZE Dave Johnson, USA 8309

• GOLD Dan O’Brien, USA 8824
• SILVER Frank Busemann, GER 8706
• BRONZE Tomás Dvorák, CZE 8664

• GOLD Erki Nool, EST 8641
• SILVER Román Sebrle, CZE 8606
• BRONZE Chris Huffins, USA 8595

• GOLD Román Sebrle, CZE 8893
• SILVER Bryan Clay, USA 8820
• BRONZE Dmitriy Karpov, KAZ 8725

• GOLD Bryan Clay, USA 8791
• SILVER Andrei Krauchanka, BLR 8551
• BRONZE Leonel Suárez, CUB 8527

• GOLD Ashton Eaton, USA 8869
• SILVER Trey Hardee, USA 8671
• BRONZE Leonel Suárez, CUB 8523

* Declared co-champions by the International Olympic Committee in 1982.