World's Greatest Athlete - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

World's Greatest Athlete is the title generally given to the Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

decathlon

Decathlon

The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin . 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...

champion.

The tradition of "World's Greatest Athlete" began when King Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe

Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...

, "You, sir, are the World's Greatest Athlete", after Thorpe won the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics

1912 Summer Olympics

The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 27 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,407 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports...

in 1912. The current holder of the title is American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Bryan Clay

Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay is an American decathlete. He is the reigning Olympic champion for the decathlon and was also World champion in 2005.-Biography:...

, the gold medal winner of the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, who took the title from Athens Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

champion Roman Šebrle

Roman Šebrle

Roman Šebrle is an athlete from the Czech Republic. He is considered to be one of the best decathlon athletes of all time. Originally a high jumper, he competes in decathlon and heptathlon for team TJ Dukla Praha and is a world record holder in the decathlon...

List of Olympic decathlon winners

'	World's Greatest Athlete
1904 St. Louis Athletics at the 1904 Summer Olympics At the 1904 Summer Olympics, twenty-five athletics events were contested, all for men only.Multi-event competitions, the decathlon and triathlon, were introduced for the first time. The short steeplechase was lengthened slightly, from 2500 to 2590 metres, while the long steeplechase was...
1908 London	Not included in the Olympic program
1912 Stockholm Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics These are the results of athletics competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics. 30 events were contested, all for men only.The athletics programme grew by 4 events since the 1908 Summer Olympics. The 5000 and 10000 metre races were introduced for the first time, as the 5 mile event was eliminated...

1920 Antwerp Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics At the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp, 29 athletics events were contested, all for men only. The competitions were held from August 15, 1920 to August 23, 1920.-Medal table:-Medal summary:-Participating nations:...
1924 Paris Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics At the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, 27 athletics events were contested, all for men only.-Medal table:-Medal summary:-Participating nations:657 athletes from 40 nations competed. Ten nations competed in athletics for the first time...
1928 Amsterdam Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics At the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, 27 athletics events were contested. The competition was held on a 400 meter track and would become the standard for athletics tracks in the future. For the first time, women's events in athletics were included in the Olympic Games program...
1932 Los Angeles Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, 29 athletics events were contested, 23 for men and 6 for women. It was the first time the 50 kilometre walk appeared in the men's athletics at the Games. This was only the second time women's events in athletics were included in the Olympic Games program...
1936 Berlin Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, 29 athletics events were contested, 23 for men and 6 for women. The program of events was unchanged from the previous Games. There was a total of 776 participants from 43 countries competing.-Medal table:...
1948 London Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics At the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, 33 athletics events were contested, 24 for men and 9 for women. Three events made their Olympic debut at these Games: women's 200 metres, women's long jump and women's shot put...
1952 Helsinki Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, 33 athletics events were contested, 24 for men and 9 for women. There were a total number of 963 participating athletes from 57 countries.-Medal table:-Men's events:-Women's events:-References:...
1956 Melbourne Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, 33 athletics events were contested, 24 for men and 9 for women. There were a total number of 720 participating athletes from 61 countries.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal table:-References:**...
1960 Rome Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, 34 events in athletics were contested, 24 by men and 10 by women. There were a total number of 1016 participating athletes from 73 countries.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal table:-Records broken:...
1964 Tokyo Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the athletics competition included 36 events, 24 for men and 12 for women. The women's 400 metres and women's pentathlon events were newly introduced at these Games. There were a total number of 1016 participating athletes from 82 countries.-Men's...
1968 Mexico City Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, 36 athletics events were contested, 24 for men and 12 for women. There were a total number of 1031 participating athletes from 93 countries....
1972 Munich Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, 38 events in athletics were contested, 24 for men and 14 for women. There were a total number of 1324 participating athletes from 104 countries.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal table:-References:*...
1976 Montreal Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, 37 events were contested in athletics. There were a total number of 1006 participating athletes from 80 countries.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal table:-References:**...
1980 Moscow Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by 38 events. They were held in the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium at Luzhniki between July 24 and August 1. There were a total number of 959 participating athletes from 70 countries.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal...
1984 Los Angeles Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, 41 events in athletics were contested, 24 events by men and 17 by women. There were a total number of 1273 participating athletes from 124 countries.-Men's events:-Women's events:...
1988 Seoul Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul a total number of 42 events in athletics were contested: 24 by men and 18 by women. There were a total number of 1617 participating athletes from 149 countries.-Men's events:...
1992 Barcelona Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, 43 events in athletics were contested, 24 events by men and 19 by women. The competition ran from July 31, 1992 to August 9, 1992. Fourteen world record-holders were among the contenders...
1996 Atlanta Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 44 events in athletics were contested, 24 by men and 20 by women. There were a total number of 2053 participating athletes from 191 countries.-Men:...
2000 Sydney Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, 46 events in athletics were contested, 24 for men and 22 for women. There were a total number of 2134 participating athletes from 193 countries.-Men's events:...
2004 Athens Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics At the 2004 Summer Olympics, the athletics events were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 18 to August 29, except for the marathons , the race walks , and the shot put...
2008 Beijing Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from August 15 to August 24, 2008, at the Beijing National Stadium. The Olympic sport of athletics is split into four distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking...
2008 Beijing Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from August 15 to August 24, 2008, at the Beijing National Stadium. The Olympic sport of athletics is split into four distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking...

List of Olympic decathlon winners

See also