Ashton Eaton: The new 'world's greatest athlete'

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2012 — One hundred years after King Gustav V of Sweden crowned Jim Thorpe a gold medalist in the decathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, celebrating him as the “world's greatest athlete”, the decathlon world record has been shattered. In the United States. By an American. Ashton Eaton.

The moment was met with surprise by the millions who suddenly recalled the existence of the decathlon and its siblings, the heptathlon and the pentathlon. For the perfect indicator of how far the decathlon family had fallen off the world radar, type Roman Sebrle's name into Google. The Czech, who is regarded as one of the greatest decathletes of all-time, was the only person to top 9,000 points in the decathlon until Eaton's superb performance in Eugene, Oregon on June 23.