At the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Roman Šebrle captured the decathlon title with 8676 points, completing his long pursuit after two World Championships silver medals with a long-awaited gold medal.
The discipline and training applied by decathletes have always been regarded by me as the ultimate in athletic dedication. Whilst it is of course always a huge honour for any decathlete to achieve the ultimate status of World Champion, I cannot help but regard all those who dedicate themselves to this most gruelling of athletic disciplines as Champions - unknown person