Ashton Eaton Captures Olympic Decathlon Gold

His place in history as the most versatile athlete of all time was already cemented. Now he has the eternal hardware to go with his world record. Oregon's Ashton Eaton, with a steady and unflappable second day, brings home Oregon's first gold medal since Joaquim Cruz won the 800 meters in 1984.

After a Wednesday that saw him win the 100 meters, the long jump, and the 400 meters, Eaton began Thursday with a 220 point lead over Trey Hardee. That lead shrank to 99 points after Hardee won the 100 meter hurdles, and Eaton threw poorly in the discus. However, Eaton responded with a fine showing in the pole vault, clearing 5.20 meters and scoring 972 points. He then all but locked up gold and the Olympic record in the javelin, unleashing a tremendous final throw of 61.96 meters, a personal best. The 1500 meters served as a victory lap, and he soaked it in, taking it easy in 4:33.59. His point total of 8869 points is 24 points shy of Roman Sebrle's Olympic record. Hardee took silver and Cuba's Leonel Suarez captured the bronze.

Eaton joins Cruz, runner Otis Davis, discus thrower Mac Wilkins, and swimmer Carolyn Wood as the only gold medalists in University of Oregon history. Congratulations to gold medalist and "World's Greatest Athlete" Ashton Eaton!