EATON RETAINS TITLE
AMERICAN SEES OFF SOME FEISTY CHALLENGES TO EQUAL OLYMPIC RECORD FOR THE GOLD MEDAL
JH
DECATHLON
THURSDAY night in the Estádio Olímpico saw Usain Bolt crowned Olympic 200m champion for the third time and Ashton Eaton the decathlon winner for the second occasion. Both are world record-holders, too, but their egos could not be more different.
Bolt had no qualms about reminding the media he was “the greatest of all time”, whereas Eaton cut a more modest figure at his press conference. “It has been a complete pleasure to compete in the same era as Usain,” the combined-eventer said, before describing the ups and downs he had endured en route to defending his Olympic title.
For the praise, his rivals had to step in to provide the words. Damian Warner of Canada, who was third, also behind runnerup Kevin Mayer of France, said: “Ashton is a great athlete and he brings the best out of the decathletes and over the past two days he’s brought the best out of myself and Kevin. He’s won everything and is great for the sport.”
Only two decathletes have won this title twice in the past – Daley Thompson and Bob Mathias – but Eaton refused to be drawn over whether he would go for an historic hat-trick in four years’ time. “Anything past today, I am not thinking about,” he said, glancing at his wife, Brianne Theisen-Eaton, who was watching interviews from a few metres away.