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Daley Thompson

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Sports and games people

             Medal record
            Olympic Games
           Men’s Athletics
    Gold    1980 Moscow    Decathlon
    Gold  1984 Los Angeles Decathlon
         World Championships
    Gold   1983 Helsinki   Decathlon
        European Championships
   Silver   1978 Prague    Decathlon
    Gold    1982 Athens    Decathlon
    Gold   1986 Stuttgart  Decathlon
          Commonwealth Games
    Gold   1978 Edmonton   Decathlon
    Gold   1982 Brisbane   Decathlon
    Gold   1986 Edinburgh  Decathlon
   Silver  1986 Edinburgh   4x100m

   Francis Morgan Thompson, CBE (born July 30, 1958 in Worcester Park),
   known commonly as Daley Thompson, is a former English decathlete and
   arguably the greatest the world had ever seen. He is of Nigerian and
   Scottish heritage.

   Thompson won consecutive gold medals at the 1980 and 1984 Olympic
   Games, and broke the world record for the event four times. His best
   score in the event was set in the 1984 Olympic competition at 8847
   points, a world record that stood for nine years and an Olympic record
   that stood for twenty years until the Czech athlete Roman Šebrle scored
   8893 points in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He competed for an
   unprecedented third Olympic decathlon gold at the 1988 Seoul games, but
   was severely hampered by injury and could only finish fourth. Thompson
   was the first athlete to simultaneously hold Olympic, Commonwealth,
   European and World titles in a single event.

   His rivalry with German athlete Jürgen Hingsen was legendary in the
   sport throughout the 1980s. The pair consistently traded world records,
   but Thompson always had the upper hand in the major events, remaining
   undefeated in all competitions for nine years between 1979 and 1987.

   He was a natural showman who endeared himself to the British public
   with his irreverent personality, notably when he nervelessly whistled
   the British national anthem God Save the Queen after receiving his gold
   medal in 1984. Afterwards, he famously sent a message to friends back
   home via a TV interview by showing his medal and saying I've got the
   Big G, boys - the Big G!

   Sometimes his behaviour caused offence, not least when he refused to
   carry the English flag at the opening ceremony of the 1982 Commonwealth
   Games, claiming that the effort required participating in the
   four-and-a-half hour ceremony would reduce his chances of winning his
   event. He won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award the same
   year. Making his acceptance speech during the live broadcast of the
   programme Thompson uttered an obscenity, which caused media comment.
   Despite this, he was awarded the OBE in 1983, followed by a CBE in
   2000.

   Thompson's name was used for three officially licensed home computer
   games by Ocean Software in the 1980s: Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Daley
   Thompson's Supertest, and Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge.

   On retirement from athletics in 1992, Thompson had periods of
   association with various football clubs and also had stints as a
   television presenter. Thompson now works as a fitness trainer and
   motivational speaker, as well as appearing at corporate events.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daley_Thompson"
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