Olympic Games Seoul 1988 (0)

Oct 29, 2026

East Germany's Christian Schenk won the men's decathlon at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games with 8488 points, ahead of compatriot Torsten Voss (8399) and Canada's Dave Steen (8328). Schenk's outstanding 2.27 m high jump helped secure Olympic gold, while two-time defending champion Daley Thompson finished fourth with 8306 points, ending his bid for a third consecutive Olympic title.

P	Athlete	Nation	Points	Results
1	Christian Schenk	GDR	8488	11,25 - 7.43 - 15.48 - 2.27 - 48,90 - 15,13 - 49.28 - 4.70 - 61.32 - 4.28,95
2	Torsten Voss	GDR	8399	10,87 - 7.45 - 14.97 - 1.97 - 47,71 - 14,46 - 44.36 - 5.10 - 61.76 - 4.33,02
3	Dave Steen	CAN	8328	11,18 - 7.44 - 14.20 - 1.97 - 48,29 - 14,81 - 43.66 - 5.20 - 64.16 - 4.23,20
4	Daley Thompson	GBR	8306	10,62 - 7.38 - 15.02 - 2.03 - 49,06 - 14,72 - 44.80 - 4.90 - 64.04 - 4.45,11
5	Christian Plaziat	FRA	8272	10,83 - 7.62 - 13.58 - 2.12 - 48,34 - 14,19 - 43.06 - 4.90 - 52.18 - 4.34,07
6	Alain Blondel	FRA	8268	11,02 - 7.43 - 12.92 - 1.97 - 47,44 - 14,40 - 41.20 - 5.20 - 57.46 - 4.16,64
7	Timothy Bright	USA	8216	11,18 - 7.05 - 14.12 - 2.06 - 49,34 - 14,39 - 41.68 - 5.70 - 61.60 - 4.51,20
8	Robert de Wit	NED	8189	11,05 - 6.95 - 15.34 - 2.00 - 48,21 - 14,36 - 41.32 - 4.80 - 63.00 - 4.25,86
9	Dave Johnson	USA	8180	11,15 - 7.12 - 14.52 - 2.03 - 49,15 - 14,66 - 42.36 - 4.90 - 66.46 - 4.29,62
10	Pavel Tarnovetski	URS	8167	11,23 - 7.28 - 15.25 - 1.97 - 48,60 - 14,76 - 48.02 - 5.20 - 59.48 - 4.52,24
11	Petri Keskitalo	FIN	8143	10,94 - 7.56 - 15.34 - 1.97 - 49,94 - 14,25 - 41.86 - 4.80 - 66.64 - 4.55,89
12	Beat Gähwiler	SUI	8114	11,18 - 7.34 - 14.48 - 1.94 - 49,02 - 15,11 - 42.46 - 4.70 - 65.84 - 4.16,74
13	Dezső Szabó	HUN	8093	11,02 - 7.29 - 12.92 - 2.06 - 48,23 - 14,96 - 39.54 - 5.00 - 56.80 - 4.17,85
14	Michael Smith	CAN	8083	10,99 - 7.37 - 13.61 - 1.97 - 47,83 - 14,70 - 43.88 - 4.30 - 66.54 - 4.28,97
15	Simon Shirley	AUS	8036	11,03 - 7.45 - 14.20 - 1.97 - 48,84 - 15,44 - 41.68 - 4.70 - 64.00 - 4.27,48
16	Simon Poelman	NZL	8021	11,09 - 7.08 - 14.51 - 2.03 - 49,89 - 14,78 - 43.20 - 4.90 - 57.18 - 4.28,54
17	Mikael Olander	SWE	7869	11,46 - 6.75 - 16.07 - 2.00 - 51,28 - 16,06 - 50.66 - 4.80 - 72.80 - 5.02,42
18	Uwe Freimuth	GDR	7860	11,57 - 7.00 - 15.60 - 1.94 - 49,84 - 15,04 - 46.66 - 4.90 - 60.20 - 4.46,04
19	Lars Warming	DEN	7859	11,07 - 7.04 - 13.41 - 1.94 - 47,97 - 14,49 - 40.38 - 4.80 - 51.50 - 4.22,41
20	Roman Hraban	TCH	7781	10,89 - 7.07 - 15.84 - 1.79 - 49,68 - 14,94 - 45.32 - 4.90 - 60.48 - 5.06,68
21	Georg Werthner	AUT	7753	11,52 - 7.36 - 13.93 - 1.94 - 49,99 - 15,64 - 38.82 - 4.60 - 67.04 - 4.26,42
22	Christian Gugler	SUI	7745	11,49 - 7.02 - 13.80 - 2.03 - 50,60 - 15,22 - 39.08 - 4.70 - 60.92 - 4.21,93
23	Antonio Penalver	ESP	7743	11,38 - 7.08 - 14.31 - 2.00 - 50,24 - 14,97 - 46.34 - 4.40 - 55.68 - 4.32,68
24	Alex Kruger	GBR	7623	11,30 - 6.97 - 13.23 - 2.15 - 49,98 - 15,38 - 38.72 - 4.60 - 54.34 - 4.37,84
25	Foo-yen Lee	TPE	7579	11,00 - 7.23 - 13.15 - 2.03 - 49,73 - 14,96 - 38.06 - 4.50 - 52.82 - 4.45,57
26	Santiago Mellado	ESA	7517	11,33 - 6.83 - 11.63 - 2.06 - 48,37 - 15,39 - 37.52 - 4.60 - 55.42 - 4.30,07
27	Severin Moser	SUI	7502	11,10 - 6.98 - 12.69 - 1.85 - 48,63 - 15,13 - 38.04 - 4.70 - 49.52 - 4.21,90
28	Veroslav Valenta	TCH	7442	11,51 - 7.01 - 14.17 - 1.94 - 51,16 - 15,18 - 45.84 - 4.60 - 56.28 - 5.03,17
29	Carlos O'Connell	IRL	7310	11,26 - 6.90 - 12.41 - 1.88 - 48,24 - 15,61 - 38.02 - 4.40 - 52.68 - 4.32,06
30	Greg Richards	GBR	7237	11,50 - 7.09 - 12.94 - 1.82 - 49,27 - 15,56 - 42.32 - 4.50 - 53.50 - 4.53,85
31	Gong Guo-hua	CHN	7231	11,43 - 6.22 - 13.98 - 1.91 - 51,25 - 15,88 - 46.18 - 4.60 - 57.84 - 4.54,99
32	Albert Miller	FIJ	7016	11,47 - 6.43 - 12.33 - 1.94 - 50,30 - 15,00 - 38.72 - 4.00 - 57.26 - 4.53,72
33	Kwang-Ik Lee	SKO	6917	11,57 - 7.19 - 10.27 - 1.91 - 50,71 - 16,20 - 34.36 - 4.10 - 54.94 - 4.29,98
34	Dambar Kunwar	NEP	5339

Didn’t finish:
Valter Külvet (URS), Gary Kinder (USA), Fidel Solorzano (ECU), Aleksandr Apaychev (URS), Jürgen Hingsen (FRG)

Historical note: Jürgen Hingsen, the silver medallist at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, was disqualified from the 1988 Seoul Olympic decathlon after three false starts in the opening 100 m event, ending his medal hopes before the competition had truly begun.

Please log in to add your comment!

Christian Schenk: One Leap, One Title, One Legend

Christian Schenk's personal best was 8500 points, achieved in August 1993 in Stuttgart.

Christian Schenk

Christian Schenk was not sure he was the World`s Greatest Athlete after winning the Olympic gold medal in the decathlon in Seoul 1988

Torsten Voss

Torsten Voss has won gold medal at the World Championships in Roma 1987. In 1981, he claimed silver at the European U20 Championships, and in 1982 set a junior world record in decathlon with 8397 points.

Dave Steen

Dave Steen became Canada’s first Olympic decathlon medallist with bronze in Seoul 1988. He also won Universiade and Pan American Games gold in 1983 and two Commonwealth Games silver medals. The first Canadian to break 8000 points, Steen …

World Championships Roma 1987

Torsten Voss of East Germany won the men's decathlon at the 1987 World Athletics Championships in Rome with 8680 points, securing his first world title. West Germany's Siegfried Wentz claimed silver with 8461 points, while the Soviet Union's …

Götzis 1988

East Germany’s Uwe Freimuth wins the decathlon at the 1988 Götzis Hypomeeting with 8381 points, just 19 ahead of Canada’s Dave Steen and fellow East German Thomas Fahner.

German men’s heptathlon all-time list

German men’s heptathlon all-time list up to 5800 points

German men’s decathlon all-time list

German men’s decathlon all-time list up to 8000 points. Leading the German men’s decathlon all-time list is Leo Neugebauer, who set the national record with a stunning 8961 points performance at the 2024 NCAA Championships in Eugene.

Men’s U20 decathlon all-time list - 7.26 kg; 107 cm; 2.0 kg; 800 g

Shot 7.26 kg; hurdles 107 cm; discus 2.0 kg; javelin 800 g

East German Championships Neubrandenburg 1983

East German Championships Neubrandenburg 1983 saw Torsten Voss retain the national decathlon title with 8335 points, equivalent to 8331 under the 1985 scoring tables. Jörg ‐Peter Schäperkötter finished second with 8265 and Steffen Grummt …

Search: Christian Schenk Dave Steen Olympic Games Seoul 1988 Torsten Voss

Smart links

2026 Decathlon rankings

Top decathletes

Men’s decathlon all-time list

Men’s decathlon top performances

World record progression

Estonian decathlon all-time list

Combined events calculator

Articles by country

Articles by year

Training • Fan Zone

Explore stories

Follow latest updates via RSS

So they said

Decathlon 2000 always used to be a huge inspiration and now I’m glad to be a part of the team here! It gives me an opportunity to discuss and write about the decathlon and to meet people with the same interests - Jessica Bullenkamp

Latest comments

Janek Salmistu wrote on Oct 23, 2026

Bryan Clay hit a hurdle and was first disqualified, but the decision was later reversed. He then fouled all three...

GOUSSET wrote on Oct 19, 2026

Hello, il me semble avoir déj� communiqué l'article que nous avons publié sur DECAPASSION en 2024 (avec mon fils...

Sonnemann,Gunther wrote on Sep 03, 2026

ob eine Bewertungstabelle Mehrkampf gut ist, sehe ich an den bewerteten Leistungen nach Punkten. Ich bitte deshalb alle, eine Aufstellung...

Gabby Pieraccini wrote on Aug 29, 2026

To respond to Richard's point, women now use the correct version of the decathlon, as per the national and world...