After watching 18-year-old Daley Thompson of Britain finish 18th in the decathlon at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, gold medalist Bruce Jenner saw great potential.

He predicted Thompson would one day win the event.

He was right. Thompson proceeded to break Jenner's world record, then won the gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Thompson dominated that decathlon so thoroughly, sportswriter Norman Giller predicted he would repeat at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

"The decathlon is at last getting the attention it deserves as the supreme track and field event," Giller wrote in "The 1984 Olympics Handbook." He credits Thompson, "who has become just about unbeatable in a 10-discipline sport that is as much a test of stamina and strength as of speed and skill."

Thompson did win in L.A. amid what the Decathlon Association calls the Daley Decade. During the 1980s, he also won gold at the '83 World Track and Field Championships and multiple titles in European and Commonwealth games.

Thompson joined American Bob Mathias as the only people to grab gold twice in the Olympic decathlon. Mathias won in 1948 and 1952. He held the record for total points in the Olympic decathlon until Thompson surpassed it in 1980.

"Two Olympic gold medals, four Olympic teams, (a nine-year) winning streak and three world records is pretty tough to beat," Frank Zarnowski, chief of the Decathlon Association, told IBD. "In spite of a few world records by German Juergen Hingsen and '88 gold medal by Christian Schenk, their decade was ruled by Thompson."

Thompson may have been blessed with natural talent, but his desire to win was a major force behind his success. Born in London in 1958, Francis Ayodele Thompson found sports to be a good outlet for his competitive spirit.

The name Daley came from Ayodele, the name his Nigerian father gave him, which was first shortened to Dele. As a youngster, Daley first played soccer, but soon turned to track and field.

"I just had to be first at everything, from catching the bus to finishing my lunch," he said, according to Cordner Nelson in "Track's Greatest Champions."

So it's not a big surprise that Thompson ended up hooked on the decathlon, which is made up of 10 grueling track and field events: 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 meters on Day 1, then 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500-meter run on Day 2.

Thompson competed in his first open track meet in 1973. The 14-year-old won the high jump, placed third in two sprints and fifth in the shot put. He saw himself as a sprinter, but two years later pursued a decathlon in Wales.

Though he didn't train well for all the events, he made a good enough effort to win his first decathlon. His point total of 6,685 was only 140 below that of Mathias when he won the Olympics in 1948 at 17 years old.

"I can go into a competition in the long jump, say, and it is only a fraction above a training session in my mind, regardless of how big a meet it is," Thompson told Nelson. "But put me in a competition where I'm getting some points at the end of it, and I'm a different man."

He constantly raised the bar for himself. He set a goal of 7,650 points for the 1976 U.K. Olympic trials — after calculating how many points he'd need in each event. Thompson ended with 7,684 points, thrashing Mathias' record. He made the U.K. team and began training hard for the 1976 Olympics.

At the end of the first day in Montreal, he was in 11th place. The second day didn't go so well. He knew he had hurried through some events due to the adrenaline rush from competing in the Games. After losing some steam in the last few disciplines, he finished 18th.

"I don't think I've ever felt so tired," he told Nelson. "It was emotional, mental and physical fatigue, and I was totally wiped out."

Thompson made sure to use the experience to move ahead, not dwell on where he fell behind.

"It was a learning experience I'll never forget for the rest of my life," he said. "I was in total awe of almost all the others there in the decathlon."

The Olympics left him hungry for success. So he entered other decathlons, as well as individual events for practice. He knew where his weaknesses lay and was determined to improve until they were strengths.

By 1978, he was training seven to eight hours a day. He relished the work, declaring the decathlon to be his life. Though he loved competition, he knew that intense training would serve him best. So he entered just three decathlons that year.

He wanted to win the European Track and Field Championships in '78, but met a rare defeat after struggling in the hurdles and pole vault. The second-place finish jarred him.

But he didn't give up.

"It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me," he told Nelson. "I was mentally getting too confident, so I wasn't concentrating. It was only my fourth championship-level decathlon."

In 1979 Thompson entered only one decathlon, spending the rest of his time training and competing in individual events. He worked on setting personal records in the disciplines, and did so in seven: the 100 meters, 400 meters, hurdles, vault, discus, javelin and shot put.

In May 1980, he entered a decathlon in Austria. He hoped his hard work would pay off and help him break Jenner's world record. Thompson knew he was in good enough shape to do so.

During each event, he kept close track of how many points ahead or behind he was of not only Jenner's record, but also of Guido Kratschmer at this spring meet. The West German athlete, who was rated second only to Jenner, was too close for comfort.

Thompson remained focused and managed to stay ahead of Kratschmer in most of the events. By the time he got to the last event, the 1,500 meters, he led Kratschmer by a wide point margin. However, he would need to run at a brisk pace to beat Jenner's total point record.

Thompson lagged after three laps. When he realized that, he kicked into high gear down the stretch. He finished in 4:25.5, just ahead of the 4:26.1 he needed for a world record. That helped him break Jenner's mark by five points.

Thompson had met his goal with a determination that was becoming a hallmark of his performances.

"(He'd) reach down and come up with a clutch effort when he needed it," Zarnowski said. "Nobody focused better than Daley."

These days Thompson, 49, keeps busy as a fitness trainer and motivational speaker.


BY NANCY GONDO