About the Combined Events
Two of the most exciting events in track and field test the versatility of performers like no other. The men's pentathlon and the women's heptathlon merge all of the skills of the ancient games -- and the winners of these events are often judged to be the top athletes in the world. The decathlon has a storied history in U.S. track and field that goes all the way back to the great Jim Thorpe in 1912. Olympians such as Rafer Johnson and Bruce Jenner became household names with gold medals in the pentathlon. So did Jackie Joyner-Kersee with record-shattering performances in the seven-event heptathlon.

The decathlon is a two-day competition that begins with the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400-meter run on day one and continues with the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500-meter run on day two.

The heptathlon begins with the 100-meter hurdles, high jump and shot put on day one and concludes with the 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin and 800-meter run on the second day.
Favorites in the decathlon this year include Tomas Dvorak of the Czech Republic, Erki Nool of Estonia and Stefan Schmid of Germany. Dvorak is the current world record holder.