Decathlon 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 "ten") and ἄθλος ("áthlos", or ἄθλον, "áthlon", meaning "contest" or “prize”). Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved. The decathlon is contested mainly by male athletes, while female athletes typically compete in the heptathlon. Traditionally, the title of "World's Greatest Athlete" has been given to the person
Decathlon simultaneously. The one-hour decathlon is a special type of decathlon in which the athletes have to start the last of ten events (1500 m) within sixty minutes of the start of the first event. The world record holder is Czech decathlete Robert Změlík, who achieved 7,897 points at a meeting in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, in 1992. In Masters athletics, performance scores are age graded before being applied to the standard scoring table. This way, marks that would be competitive within an age division can get rated, even if those marks would not appear on the scale designed for younger age groups.