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Stage set for the GREATEST athlete
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Some of the battles between decathletes at the Olympic Games have been the stuff of legends. Will Roman Sebrle and Tom Pappas reproduce the magic once again, asks AJAY MENON.
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GEARING UP FOR THE BIG FIGHT: Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic.
"Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.'' King Gustav the Fifth's admiration for the man standing before him was not in the least misplaced. Jim Thorpe, arguably the greatest all-round sportsman in the modern era had just stepped forward to receive his decathlon and pentathlon gold medals after his triumphs in the Stockholm Olympics of 1912. Over the decades, the decathlon winner in the Olympic Games has come to be widely regarded as the best all-round athlete in the world. And mark you; this competition has seen some of the most intense and intriguing rivalries in the arena.
Sebrle v Pappas
With the Athens Olympic Games set to start on August 13 the stage is ready for yet another of those magnificent rivalries in the decathlon in the tradition of Daley Thompson versus Jurgen Hingsen, Rafer Johnson versus C.K.Yang and Bob Mathias versus Ignace Heinrich and Milton Campbell. This time round, the world looks forward to the battle between Tom Pappas of the USA and Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic. And there are a few others like Bryan Clay who will want to have their say.
Roman Sebrle, a 29-year-old soldier in the Czech army, is the world record holder in the decathlon; he set the new mark in 2001. He became the first man ever to cross 9,000 points, touching 9,026 as he bettered fellow countryman Tomas Dvorak's record of 8,994. Sebrle finished with a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 but could not compete in the 2001 World Championships owing to an injury. He took the European title in 2002. The 6' 1'' tall Czech had focused on playing soccer until the age of 18 when he took to the track. At the age of 21, he began training seriously and soon emerged as a formidable competitor.
The rivalry intensifies
In 2003 at the World Championships, his rivalry with Tom Pappas intensified with the American pipping him to the gold. After his win over Pappas at the Hypo Meeting in the Austrian village of Gotzis in May this year, Sebrle told the media that he was a better runner than the world champion. Will that be enough for Athens 2004? Of big Tom Pappas, it has been said, "You can't tell, looking at him just before the starting gun fires, whether he's getting ready to go to war...or go to bed." That reserved, even stoic demeanour, conceals a brightly burning competitive spirit. Pappas finished fifth at the Sydney Olympics, but after capturing the World title he is ready for a battle with Sebrle and other contenders like reigning Olympic champion Erki Nool of Estonia and World Championship bronze winner Dmitri Karpov of Kazakhstan.
The 23-year-old Bryan Clay, born in Texas and raised in Honolulu, shunted Pappas to second place at the U.S. Olympic Trials, setting the scene for fierce competition at Athens. Clay's team mate Paul Terek, the Czech Tomas Dvorak who is a former world record holder and the Frenchman Laurent Hernu are all ready to make a grab for those coveted medals.
The 27-year-old Tom Pappas is of Greek descent Pantazis then changed his name to Pappas. Tom's grandfather was a professional wrestler who irreversibly initiated the sporting trend in the family. Tom Pappas' father was partially paralysed owing to a polio attack but that did not stop him from setting a joint world land vehicle speed record.
... and Tom Pappas of the USA.
As the only American besides Dan O'Brien to win a decathlon World title and having won the 2003 U.S. Outdoor Nationals with the second-highest total in U.S history (8,784), Pappas is a man to reckon with. In 2003, he won the heptathlon title at the World Indoor Championship.
The legend of Jim Thorpe
But our story started with Jim Thorpe. The enormity of the man's achievements can be gauged by reminding ourselves of what the decathlon consists of. The events include the 100 metres, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 m, 110 m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 m. So, gold medals in the decathlon plus the pentathlon - this was a feat of mesmerising power and stamina. The ill-defined rules of the Olympic movement resulted in Thorpe being stripped of his medals after it had been discovered that he had played professional baseball in the days when Olympic sportsmen were required to be amateurs. But Thorpe's story did not end there. He went on to play professional baseball for teams such as the New York Giants. Jim Thorpe was declared as `America's greatest football player of the half-century,' in 1950 and was selected by his nation's press the same year as the most outstanding athlete of the 20th century. It was only in 1983 that his medals were restored posthumously by the then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch.
Jim Thorpe's Indian name was Wa-Tho-Huk or `Bright Path'. The fields of sport that he set alight are still ablaze as the latest generation of supremely gifted sportsmen seeks to enter the decathletes' luminous Hall of Fame.
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