DALEY THOMPSON
Athlete - decathalon

British decathlete who became only the second competitor in history to win the decathlon at two Olympic Games, capturing gold medals in 1980 and 1984.
At the height of his career Daley was a major sports personality and had two computergames made bearing his name. Daley Thompsons Decathlon, and Daley Thompsons Supertest.
He was definately at the forefront of athletics in the 80's along with Seb Coe, Steve Cramm, tessa Sanderson and Fatima Whitbread, who were all athletic contempories of that era.

The son of a Nigerian father and a Scottish mother, Thompson made his debut in the decathlon at the age of 16, winning a competition in Cwmbran, Wales. Thompson's score of 6,685 points was a British junior record, and in that same year, 1975, he qualified for the British Olympic team.

At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Thompson finished 18th; in 1978 he finished second at the European championships. He would not lose another decathlon for nine years. In 1980, after setting a world record in May with 8,622 points, Thompson dominated the competition at the Olympics in Moscow to win the first of his gold medals.

In 1984 in Los Angeles Olympics, Daley successfully defended his title, equaling the achievement of the American Bob Mathias, who won Olympic decathlon gold medals in 1948 and 1952.

At the time though Thompson's total of 8,797 points fell one point short of the world record, when the scoring tables for the decathlon were adjusted in 1985, his Olympic point total was changed to 8,847 and he was awarded the world record.

Daley was hindered by injuries at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and finished fourth.

Today Daley Thompson endorses many sport related products on T.V.

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