Steve Fritz missed an Olympic medal by 20 points in Atlanta 1996. He had finished the best competition of his life, scoring 8644 points. That got him 4th place.
Simon Poelman's personal best of 8366 points is still a New Zealand national record. This was set at the national athletics championships in Christchurch 1987. Poelman secured the New Zealand decathlon title seven times between 1984 and 1992.
Sebastian Chmara is the Polish Decathlon record holder who became World Indoor champion in 1999 and European Indoor champion in 1998. He cemented his legacy in Polish athletics with a stunning 8566 ‐point decathlon in 1998, securing his
Roman Šebrle became the first decathlete ever to achieve over 9000 points, setting the World Record at 9026 points (Götzis 2001), succeeding his compatriot, Tomaš Dvorak, who had scored 8994 points two years earlier (Prague 1999).
Robert Zmelík’s Olympic triumph helped spark a golden era for Czech decathlon. He inspired future stars like world record holders Tomáš Dvořák and Roman Šebrle.
Robert de Wit dominated nationally, winning the Dutch decathlon title multiple times in 1981, 1982, 1984 and 1988. He set his personal best of 8447 points in May 1988 at a meet in Eindhoven.
Ramil Ganiyev holds the Uzbekistan national record in decathlon with 8445 points from his performance in Athens 1997. Also holds the indoor heptathlon record for Uzbekistan with 5918 points scored in Sofia 1990.
At the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Paul Meier captured the bronze medal with a personal best score of 8548 points. On 30 April 2004, he married high jumper Heike Henkel. They have a daughter, Marlene Meier.
Mike Maczey represented Germany at its highest level - national champion twice, Olympic competitor, and placed in the top eight at European Championships. At Götzis 2000 he posted his lifetime best - 8461 points.
Lev Lobodin on the podium: European Championships 1994, 1998 and 2002 bronze (decathlon).
World Indoor Championships 2001 and 2004 bronze, 2003 silver (heptathlon).
Jiri Ryba achieved 6th place at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, Canada, scoring 8332 points. He secured a bronze medal at the 1995 European Junior Championships in Nyíregyháza, Hungary, with 7271 points.
Jagan Hames is the Commonwealth Games Champion in Decathlon (1998, Kuala Lumpur). He won gold with a stunning 8490 points, setting both Australian and Oceania records - an achievement that stood for over two decades (until 2021).
Jaakko Ojaniemi’s top decathlon score of 8192 points was achieved at the 2002 European Championships in München. His international medal collection is almost entirely from junior and U23 competitions.
Decathlon 2000 is the premier website for our favorite event... we all have the responsibility to promote this challenging event and elevate its value among the track and field fans - Petros Kyprianou