XPost: sac.politics, alt.politics.homosexuality

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Shortly after Ashton Eaton won his second
straight Olympic gold medal in decathlon Thursday night, Usain
Bolt earned his eighth gold by winning the 200 meter run. Bolt
received enormous applause and attention, and deservedly so,
because that was an amazing accomplishment. But Bolt had to run
only 200 meters to win. He didn't have to also run 1,500 meters.
And throw a discus, a shot put and a javelin. And attempt the
pole vault, either. Or jump as long and high as possible. Or
compete in 10 different events in just two days.

"I know, right? Exactly," U.S. decathlete Jeremy Taiwo said.
"You need to be skilled at so many things in the decathlon. I
know the Greeks really valued that."

We should value the decathlon more, as well. Just as we used to.

Decathlon champions were first regarded as "the world's greatest
athlete" when Sweden's king bestowed that honor on Jim Thorpe at
the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. Eaton earned that title at the
2012 Olympics and he retained it with an Olympic record-tying
mark of 8,893 points Thursday to join Bob Mathias and Daley
Thompson as the only three decathletes to win two Olympic golds.

"I am proud to be part of the decathlon family," Eaton said.

Unfortunately, far fewer people know his name than they did in
the old days when the champ was a nationally known hero, such as
Bruce Jenner.

"He is nowhere near that. Isn't that incredible?" Taiwo said. "I
don't really know how to get it trending for Ashton to be
acknowledged by more of the world that he's the best athlete in
the world. Because he is. It's one of those things where it's
like, 'Huh?' I feel he should get more recognition because he's
been so awesome and so dominant. Just like Bolt."

Bolt and Justin Gatlin complained about having to run the 100
twice Sunday with little more than an hour break. Sure, it
slowed their times in the final race, but c'mon. Compare that to
the decathletes.

http://www.espn.com/olympics/trackandfield/story/_/id/17343330/2 016-rio-olympics-decathlon-no-longer-gets-respect-deserves

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