50 free Decathlon trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 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 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Over how many consecutive days is a decathlon held?
Two
Five events are held each day, and the winner is decided on points rather than placings.
Q 02Which event traditionally closes the decathlon?
1500 metres
The first day ends with the 400 metres; day two runs hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and then the 1500.
Q 03Which of these is NOT one of the ten decathlon events?
200 m
The 200 metres belongs to the women's heptathlon; the decathlon's sprints are the 100 and 400.
Q 04The word decathlon combines the Greek for ten with a word meaning what?
Contest or prize
It was coined by analogy with pentathlon, the five-event contest of the ancient Games.
Q 05Which king first called Jim Thorpe the World's Greatest Athlete in 1912?
Gustav V of Sweden
Thorpe reportedly replied simply, Thanks, King.
Q 06The modern decathlon first appeared at which Olympic Games?
1912 Stockholm
A ten-event all-around had been held at the 1904 Games, but its official status is disputed.
Q 07Besides long jump, discus, javelin and a sprint, what was the fifth ancient Greek pentathlon discipline?
Wrestling
The five-event contest stayed popular at the ancient Games for centuries.
Q 08The decathlon-like ten-event all-around was first contested at the US amateur championships in which year?
1884
It reached a consistent form by 1890 and an all-around was also held at the 1904 Olympics.
Q 09What is the men's decathlon world record score, set by Kevin Mayer in 2018?
9,126
He set it at the Décastar in Talence and is the third man to pass 9,000; the other three scores were all earlier world records.
Q 10The Décastar meeting where Kevin Mayer set his world record takes place in which French town?
Talence
Dan O'Brien also set a world record there in 1992, and Marie Collonvillé set the women's decathlon record there in 2004.
Q 11The Hypo-Meeting, the sport's most famous annual combined events meet, is held in which Austrian town?
Götzis
Daley Thompson set two world records there, and the first 9,000-point decathlon was scored there in 2001.
Q 12Who was the first decathlete to score more than 9,000 points, in 2001?
Roman Šebrle
The Czech, originally a high jumper, scored 9,026 and held the record for over eleven years.
Q 13Tomáš Dvořák is the only decathlete to have done what three times?
Scored over 8,900 points
He was world champion in 1997, 1999 and 2001 and set an 8,994 world record in Prague in 1999.
Q 21After his two Olympic golds, Bob Mathias served four terms in what role?
US Congressman from California
He was a Republican member of the House of Representatives from 1967 to 1975 and also acted in films.
Q 22Rafer Johnson's most serious rival at the 1960 Rome Olympics, C. K. Yang, competed for which country?
Taiwan
The two were UCLA training partners; Johnson won gold by 58 points.
Q 23In 1968, Rafer Johnson helped tackle the assassin of which politician?
Robert F. Kennedy
He, footballer Rosey Grier and writer George Plimpton grabbed Sirhan Sirhan moments after the shooting; Johnson later lit the 1984 Olympic cauldron.
Q 14Ashton Eaton is the only decathlete to have done what?
Exceeded 9,000 points twice
He scored 9,039 in 2012 and 9,045 in 2015, and won Olympic gold in London and Rio.
Q 15Ashton Eaton married which Canadian multi-event athlete, his college teammate, in 2013?
Brianne Theisen
Both had competed at the London Olympics a year earlier.
Q 16Jim Thorpe won two gold medals at the 1912 Olympics, in the decathlon and which other event?
Classic pentathlon
He was the first Native American to win Olympic gold for the United States and later played pro football, baseball and basketball.
Q 17Why was Jim Thorpe stripped of his 1912 Olympic titles?
He had been paid to play semi-professional baseball
The IOC restored his medals in 1983, thirty years after his death, and in 2022 made him sole champion again.
Q 18Jim Thorpe won his 1912 decathlon gold wearing what?
Mismatched shoes, one from a trash can
Someone had stolen his shoes just before he was due to compete.
Q 19Which actor played Jim Thorpe in the 1951 film Jim Thorpe – All-American?
Burt Lancaster
Thorpe himself appeared in several films after his sporting career.
Q 20Bob Mathias won the 1948 Olympic decathlon at what age, becoming the youngest track and field gold medallist?
17
He had taken up the event only months earlier and nearly fouled out of the shot put because he did not know the rules.
Q 24Bill Toomey, the 1968 Olympic champion, married which British 1964 Olympic long jump champion?
Mary Rand
Toomey's 45.68 for 400 m in Mexico City stood as the decathlon best for 47 years.
Q 25The 1976 Olympic decathlon champion, then known as Bruce Jenner, set what world-record score in Montreal?
8,618
It was a third successive world record, and a Wheaties box cover followed in 1977.
Q 26The 1976 Olympic champion played college football for which team before a knee injury led to the decathlon?
Graceland Yellowjackets
Coach L. D. Weldon persuaded the future champion to try the decathlon.
Q 27Daley Thompson won Olympic decathlon gold at which two Games?
1980 and 1984
He broke the world record four times and went nine years unbeaten.
Q 28Daley Thompson's great 1980s rival, Jürgen Hingsen, competed for which country?
West Germany
In 1984 a re-examined photo finish gave Thompson an extra hurdles point, meaning he had equalled Hingsen's world record.
Q 29Daley Thompson's first name is a contraction of a Yoruba word meaning what?
Joy comes home
His father was British Nigerian and his mother Scottish; he was born in Notting Hill in 1958.
Q 30Dan O'Brien missed the 1992 Olympics after registering no height in which event at the US Trials?
Pole vault
It embarrassed Reebok, whose Dan and Dave campaign had built the whole summer around him; he won gold in Atlanta four years later.