Decathlon Trivia
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38 free Decathlon trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
The decathlon crowns the world's greatest athlete, a title that dates back to King Gustav V of Sweden's words to Jim Thorpe in Stockholm in 1912. This quiz covers the event from its ancient pentathlon roots and the American all-around championships to the modern two-day programme: which ten events, in what order, how the points tables work, why the 1500 metres finishes it and what the round of honour is. The champions are all here: Thorpe's stolen shoes and restored medals, Bob Mathias winning at 17, Rafer Johnson and C. K. Yang, Bruce Jenner and the Wheaties box, Daley Thompson's four world records, Dan O'Brien's pole vault disaster, Roman Šebrle and Tomáš Dvořák breaking 9,000, Ashton Eaton's back-to-back golds, Kevin Mayer's 9,126 world record and Damian Warner's Olympic record in Tokyo. There are questions on the women's heptathlon and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, on Götzis and Talence, and on the women's decathlon too. About a third of the questions are easy for anyone who has watched an Olympic final, a third are medium and the rest will stretch real track and field fans. Every answer is checked against reference and biography pages, and each question carries its source.
30 of 38 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which event traditionally closes the decathlon?
1500 metres
1500 metres: easing off in it in 1984, Daley Thompson seemed to miss the world record by one point, until photo-finish pictures from an earlier race showed he had equalled it.
Q 02Which British heptathlete won Olympic gold on home soil at London 2012?
Jessica Ennis-Hill
Jessica Ennis-Hill: four years later in Rio she had to settle for silver, beaten by Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam.
Q 03The word decathlon combines the Greek for ten with a word meaning what?
Contest or prize
Contest or prize: the same Greek root gave English the word athlete, from athlētēs, one who competes for a prize.
Q 04Which king first called Jim Thorpe the World's Greatest Athlete in 1912?
Gustav V of Sweden
Gustav V of Sweden: the phrase stuck, and the Olympic decathlon champion is traditionally hailed as the World's Greatest Athlete.
Q 05Olympic champion Jim Thorpe was the first president of which professional sports league?
National Football League
National Football League: then called the American Professional Football Association, it picked him for his fame, and he kept playing as its biggest draw.
Q 06Besides long jump, discus, javelin and a sprint, what was the fifth ancient Greek pentathlon discipline?
Wrestling
Wrestling came last, and needing both strength and speed made pentathletes, in Aristotle's words, the most beautiful athletes.
Q 07The 'all-around', a ten-event forerunner of the decathlon, began at which country's amateur championships?
United States
United States: at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics the all-around went to Tom Kiely, who paid his own way and turned down British and American offers to compete for Ireland.
Q 08As of 2025, who held the men's decathlon world record, set in 2018?
Kevin Mayer
Kevin Mayer: six years later, a thigh injury ended his hopes of an Olympic title at home in Paris.
Q 09The Décastar meeting, where the men's decathlon world record was set in 2018, takes place in which French town?
Talence
Talence: Dan O'Brien also broke the world record there in September 1992, months after failing to make the US Olympic team.
Q 10The Hypo-Meeting, an annual decathlon and heptathlon meet held each spring, takes place in which Austrian town?
Götzis
Götzis: Daley Thompson set a world record there in May 1980, but within weeks Guido Kratschmer had beaten it.
Q 11Who was the first decathlete to score more than 9,000 points, in 2001?
Roman Šebrle
Roman Šebrle: a career soldier, he was promoted to major by the Czech defence minister after adding Olympic gold in 2004.
Q 12Which decathlete won three straight world titles, in 1997, 1999 and 2001?
Tomáš Dvořák
Tomáš Dvořák: his 1999 world record of 8,994 points fell just six points short of the first 9,000.
Q 13As of 2025, Ashton Eaton was the only decathlete to have done what?
Exceeded 9,000 points twice
Exceeded 9,000 points twice: yet he retired at 28, announcing it on the same day as his wife.
Q 21In 1968, Rafer Johnson helped tackle the assassin of which politician?
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy: Johnson and footballer Rosey Grier grabbed the gunman moments after the shooting, and Johnson later lit the 1984 Olympic cauldron.
Q 22Bill Toomey, the 1968 Olympic champion, married which British 1964 Olympic long jump champion?
Mary Rand
Mary Rand: she won that 1964 gold with a world record, four years after fouling her way to ninth place as the favourite in Rome.
Q 23The 1976 Olympic decathlon champion later married into which famous reality-TV family?
The Kardashians
The Kardashians: Jenner married Kris Kardashian in 1991, and Keeping Up with the Kardashians later thrust the old champion back into the spotlight.
Q 14Ashton Eaton married which multi-event athlete, his college teammate, in 2013?
Brianne Theisen
Brianne Theisen: at the 2015 World Championships he won the decathlon while she took heptathlon silver, just missing a golden double.
Q 15Glenn Morris, the 1936 Olympic decathlon champion, starred as which fictional hero in a 1938 film?
Tarzan
Tarzan: critics mocked his acting, and after one more small film role Morris left the movie business for good.
Q 16Why was Jim Thorpe stripped of his 1912 Olympic titles?
He was paid to play baseball
He was paid to play baseball, for Rocky Mount in North Carolina in 1909 and 1910; the IOC restored his medals only after his death.
Q 17Which actor played Jim Thorpe in the 1951 film Jim Thorpe – All-American?
Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster: Thorpe himself had worked in films mostly as an uncredited extra, usually playing an American Indian in Westerns.
Q 18In 1952, Bob Mathias won Olympic decathlon gold and played in which college football game?
The Rose Bowl
The Rose Bowl: on Stanford's way there, he returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown in a 27–20 win over USC.
Q 19After his two Olympic golds, Bob Mathias later served in which role?
US Congressman from California
US Congressman from California: before politics he played himself in The Bob Mathias Story, a film of his own life.
Q 20Rafer Johnson's most serious rival at the 1960 Rome Olympics, C. K. Yang, competed for which country?
Taiwan
Taiwan: Yang was stronger in the running and jumping events, but Johnson's big edge in the throws won him the gold.
Q 24The 1976 Olympic decathlon champion made a film debut in which 1980 movie starring the Village People?
Can't Stop the Music
Can't Stop the Music: a double bill of it and Xanadu inspired John Wilson to found the Golden Raspberry Awards, which named it Worst Picture.
Q 25Daley Thompson's great 1980s rival, Jürgen Hingsen, competed for which country?
West Germany
West Germany: Hingsen never beat Thompson in competition, and at the 1988 Olympics he was disqualified for three false starts in the opening sprint.
Q 26Dan O'Brien missed the 1992 Olympics after registering no height in which event at the US Trials?
Pole vault
Pole vault: four years later he made up for it by winning Olympic gold in Atlanta.
Q 27The famous Dan and Dave advertising campaign of 1992 was run by which company?
Reebok
Reebok: its other star, Dave Johnson, made the team and won bronze in Barcelona despite a foot injury.
Q 28Damian Warner, the 2020 Olympic champion, is from which country?
Canada
Canada: after his Tokyo gold he was chosen as the country's flagbearer for the closing ceremony.
Q 29As of 2025, Damian Warner held the decathlon bests in the 100 m and which other event?
110 m hurdles
110 m hurdles: after the pandemic wiped out his 2020 season, he led the Tokyo Olympic decathlon from start to finish.
Q 30Leo Neugebauer set a collegiate decathlon record of 8,836 points competing for which university?
Texas
Texas: at the Paris Olympics a year later he led after the first day, but Markus Rooth overtook him to take gold.