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Clay Strikes Gold In Decathlon

A Tribune wire report

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 23, 2008

BEIJING - The long jumpers flamed out. Pole vaulter Derek Miles was a late bump from the medals stand.

All in all, another lousy night was on hand for the U.S. track and field team.

Then Bryan Clay finished last in a 1,500-meter run - and the U.S. struck gold Friday night.

Clay became the first American in 12 years to win the decathlon. The 28-year-old who grew up in Hawaii and now lives in California, finished 13th out of 13 in his heat of the 1,500, the final event of the 10-discipline competition. The run - four trips around the Bird's Nest track - was also his weakest.

But with a 479-point lead entering the final run, Clay was in strong position to turn his Athens silver into Beijing gold.

"I guess I knew that if I finished the race I was going to win, but I was still nervous," said Clay, the first American Olympian to win the "world's best athlete" title since Dan O'Brien in Atlanta.

Clay built his lead with a personal best in the shot put and season-best marks in the long jump, javelin and discus. He also won his heats in the 100 and the hurdles.

The mix of rain Thursday and heat Friday took a toll on the field, as did the schedule, which ran from morning until night Thursday and Friday.

"You know, I got to bed at 1 o'clock Thursday night, but got up at 5 o'clock Friday morning to start all over again," he said

He covered the 1,500 in 5 minutes, 6.59 seconds - the slowest 1,500 time by a gold medalist since Bob Mathias in 1948 - but his effort was worth 522 points.

He finished with 8,791 points and the largest margin of victory since Mykola Avilov of the then-Soviet Union won at the 1972 Munich Games. Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus took silver at 8,551, and Leonel Suarez of Cuba was third in 8,527.
Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic, who beat Clay for the gold in Athens and is the reigning world champion, finished sixth.

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