Who is Daley Thompson and how many records does he hold?
DALEY THOMPSON is a former British decathlete who broke the world record four times.
The sports star was unbeaten for almost nine years. Here’s what we know about Thompson.
Who is Daley Thompson?
The 65-year-old was born Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, but is better known as Daley.
The superstar overcame the brutal murder of his father – shot dead when he was 12 – to become arguably our greatest athlete of all time.
Thompson was born in Notting Hill, the second son of a British Nigerian father, Frank Thompson.
His Scottish mother, Lydia, is from Dundee.
At the age of six, his father left home, but his father was sadly shot dead in Streatham by the husband of a woman whom the father and a friend had dropped off.
The young sports aficionado’s first ambition was to become a professional footballer, but he later switched his interests to athletics.
In later life he was an ambassador for the London 2012 Olympics and helped teach children to play football in war-torn Moldova.
To some he is a warm, endearing iconic hero feted as a majestic sporting envoy.
Others, like The Sun’s Colin Hart in 1992, view him as “overpowering, arrogant and rude” because of his robust relationship with the media and his fans.
Journalist Robert Chalmers described him as “the greatest all-round athlete this country [United Kingdom] has ever produced.”
Speaking ahead of a new BBC2 feature-length documentary, Daley: Olympic Superstar, he said he was given his first pair of SL72 Adidas trainers in 1975, five years before his first Olympic win.
Daley, who grew up using food and clothes banks, says: “It was such an affirmation for me because obviously I couldn’t afford all the shoes and equipment that you need to do the decathlon.
“I had a new girlfriend and we were kind of getting down to it and she said: ‘Are you going to take your shoes off?’
“I said, ‘Lady, are you crazy? There is no way I am taking my shoes off! I don’t care if we don’t but no way!”
What is Daley Thompson famous for?
Between 1978 and 1986 he won three Commonwealth and two European golds.
And when he bagged gold at the 1983 World Championships he held all major decathlon titles.
The British former athlete won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980.
How many world records does Daley Thompson hold?
He set a world decathlon record of 8,648 points at Gotzis in Austria in May 1980 and followed up with a comfortable win at the Moscow Olympics.
Back at Gotzis in 1982 he raised the world record to 8,730 points and then in September, at the European Championships in Athens, took the record up to 8,774 points.
By 1984 West German Jurgen Hingsen had succeeded Thompson as the world record holder but at the Los Angeles Olympics Daley took the lead in the first event and was never headed.
But by easing off in the 1,500 metres it seemed he had missed tying the world record by just one point.
When the photo-finish pictures were examined it was found that Thompson should have been credited with one more point in the 110m hurdles so he had, in fact, equalled Hingsen’s record.
Then when the new scoring tables were introduced, Thompson became the sole record holder once more with a recalculated score of 8,847 points – a world record that stood until 1992 when it was surpassed by the American athlete Dan O’Brien with a score of 8,891.
He was unbeaten in competition for nine years.
In 1984, and broke the world record for the event four times.
With four world records, two Olympic gold medals, three Commonwealth titles, and wins in the World and European Championships, Thompson is considered by many to be one of the greatest decathletes of all time.
His two victories in the Olympic decathlon are a feat shared only with the Americans Bob Mathias and Ashton Eaton.
Thompson’s 1984 performance is still the UK record.
How many events did Daley Thompson compete in?
As a decathlete, Thompson competed in 10 different events.
On day one, he would have to undertake a 100-metre dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m.
While on day 2, he would then do a 110-metre hurdle, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500m.
So, how man Olympic golds did Thompson win?
Daley was the golden boy of the 1980 Games in Moscow and again in Los Angeles four years later.
Who was his greatest rival?
Without doubt Hingsen, who drove Thompson on to even greater achievements during their ding-dong battles.
But Thompson had the upper hand in the major events, remaining undefeated in all competitions between 1979 and 1987.
Was he involved in any great controversy?
Yes. In 1984 at Los Angeles Thompson had just won his second Olympic decathlon gold medal and wore a T-shirt that read “is the world’s 2nd greatest athlete gay?”
US sprinter Carl Lewis had been dealing with rumours of homosexuality and the shirt was regarded as being cruelly directed at him.
But Thompson claimed: “The second athlete could be anybody, Carl Lewis, anybody.”
How was Daley recognised away from track and field?
He was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 1982, appointed an MBE in the 1983 New Year Honours and promoted to a CBE in 2000.
He was well known for his appearances in commercials for the drink Lucozade in the 1980s.
What happened after athletics?
Thompson was forced to retire in 1992 with persistent hamstring trouble.
In the 1990s he played pro football for Mansfield Town and Stevenage FC and Ilkeston FC.
He also worked as fitness coach for Wimbledon and Luton Town.
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He also took part in motorsport, entering the Ford Credit Fiesta Challenge Championship in 1994.
What has he been doing since?
Mainly worked as a fitness trainer an motivational speaker, along with radio work with talkSPORT.
Thompson has two children with his girlfriend Lisa, and three with ex-wife Tish.
Thompson has sporting sons Elliot and Alex.
Like his father, Elliot became the national decathlon champion at the 2022 British Athletics Championships.