Daley Thompson

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Birth Name: Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson

Age: 65, born 30 July 1958

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Currently Residing In: United Kingdom

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Favorite British Male Olympic Champions (30 items)
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Published 10 years ago

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Poll ! The Greatest: vote your best Sport Athlete (22 items)
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Published 2 years, 11 months ago

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8 votes

My Favourite Sports Men and Women (26 items)
list by Kenji

Published 9 years, 9 months ago

1 comment

5 votes

100 Great Britons: A Personal Selection (100 items)
list by Kenji

Published 9 years ago

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Description: Francis Morgan Ayodélé "Daley" Thompson CBE (born 30 July 1958), is an English former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984 and broke the world record for the event four times. With four world records, two Olympic gold medals, three Commonwealth titles and wins in the World and European Championships, Thompson is considered by many to be one of the greatest decathletes of all time. Thompson originally trained as a sprinter but his new coach Bob Mortimer suggested he try for decathlon. In 1976 he won the AAA title. The following year, he won the European Junior title a Francis Morgan Ayodélé "Daley" Thompson CBE (born 30 July 1958), is an English former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984 and broke the world record for the event four times.

With four world records, two Olympic gold medals, three Commonwealth titles and wins in the World and European Championships, Thompson is considered by many to be one of the greatest decathletes of all time.

Thompson originally trained as a sprinter but his new coach Bob Mortimer suggested he try for decathlon. In 1976 he won the AAA title. The following year, he won the European Junior title and in 1978 came the first of his three Commonwealth titles. In 1979, won the long jump at the UK Championships.

Thompson opened the 1980 Olympic season with a world decathlon record of 8,648 points at Götzis, Austria, in May, and followed this with a comfortable win at the Moscow Olympics.

After a quiet 1981 season, he was in devastating form in 1982; back at Götzis in May, he raised the world record to 8,730 points and then in September, at the European Championships in Athens, he took the record up to 8,774 points. The following month in Brisbane, Thompson took his second Commonwealth title.

In 1983, Daley won the inaugural World Championships and became the first decathlete to hold the European, World and Olympic titles simultaneously.

He spent much of the summer of 1984 in California preparing for the defence of his Olympic title, with Jürgen Hingsen, the West German who had succeeded Thompson as the world record holder, expected to be a major threat. Thompson took the lead in the first event and was never headed throughout the competition, although it seemed that, by easing off in the 1,500 metres he had missed tying the world record by just one point. When the photo-finish pictures were examined, however, it was found that Thompson should have been credited with one more point in the 110 metres hurdles so he had in fact, equalled Hingsen’s record. Then when the new scoring tables were introduced, Thompson became the sole record holder once more with a recalculated score of 8,847 points – a world record that stood until 1992.

His two victories in the decathlon are a feat shared only with the American Bob Mathias. Thompson's 1984 performance is still the UK record.

Thompson was a natural showman who endeared himself to the British public with his irreverent personality and anti-establishment attitude. He won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 1982. He was awarded the MBE in 1982, the OBE in 1986 and the CBE in 2000. ... (more)

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