Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's decathlon last two events of the competition. 6 of the 29 starters did not appear for the fourth event. 5 more athletes, including the 6th-placed Nilsson, retired after the high jump and did not appear for the fifth event. This brought the number of non-finishers up to 11, leaving 18 to continue the competition. Philbrook scored over 1000 points in the event by breaking the previous Olympic record (listed as 41.46 metres in the 1912 official report, though actually only 40.89 set by Martin Sheridan in 1908). Since the discus throw event had been held 2 days prior to the decathlon
Decathlon event. The "% Difference" column shows the percentage difference between the time, distance or height of the individual world record and the decathlon record (other than the "Total" entry, which shows the percentage difference between awarded decathlon points). The relative differences in points are much higher in throwing events than in running and jumping events. Decathlon bests are only recognised when an athlete completes the ten-event competition with a score over 7,000 points. Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin, from δέκα ("déka", meaning