Ashton James Eaton (born January 21, 1988) is a retired American decathlete and two-time Olympic champion, who holds the world record in the indoor heptathlon event. Eaton was the second decathlete (after Roman Šebrle) to break the 9,000-point barrier in the decathlon, with 9,039 points, a score he bettered on August 29, 2015, when he beat his own world record with a score of 9,045 points, and remains the only person to exceed 9000 points twice. His world record was broken by Frenchman Kevin Mayer on September 16, 2018, with a total of 9,126 points, who became the third man to pass the 9,000-point barrier.^[2]

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Ashton Eaton

Eaton in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Ashton James Eaton
Born	(1988-01-21) January 21, 1988 (age 36)[1] Portland, Oregon, U.S.[1]
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[1]
Weight	180 lb (82 kg)[1]
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	Decathlon, heptathlon
Club	Oregon Track Club
Coached by	Harry Marra
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	Decathlon: 9,045 Heptathlon: 6,645 (WR)
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 0 0 World Championships 2 1 0 World Indoor Championships 3 0 0 Total 7 1 0 Olympic Games 2012 London Decathlon 2016 Rio de Janeiro Decathlon World Championships 2013 Moscow Decathlon 2015 Beijing Decathlon 2011 Daegu Decathlon World Indoor Championships 2012 Istanbul Heptathlon 2014 Sopot Heptathlon 2016 Portland Heptathlon

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He competed for the Oregon Track Club Elite team based in Eugene, Oregon. In college, Eaton competed for the University of Oregon, where he was a five-time NCAA champion, and won The Bowerman award in 2010. In 2011, Eaton won the first international medal of his career, a silver, in the decathlon at the 2011 World Championships. The following year, Eaton broke his own world record in the heptathlon at the 2012 World Indoor Championships, and then broke the world record in the decathlon at the Olympic Trials. After setting the world record, Eaton won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He successfully defended his Olympic title at the 2016 Summer Olympics by winning the decathlon gold medal and tying the Olympic record. Eaton is only the third Olympian (after Bob Mathias of the US and Great Britain's Daley Thompson) to achieve back-to-back gold medals in the decathlon.^[3]

Eaton announced his retirement from the sport on January 3, 2017.^[4][5]

Eaton was born in Portland, Oregon, on January 21, 1988,^[6] the only child of Roslyn Eaton and Terrance Wilson.^[7] His father is Black and his mother is Caucasian.^[8]

His maternal grandfather, Jim Eaton, played football at Michigan State University, and his father also played the sport. His mother was an athlete and a dancer.^[9] He has three paternal siblings, including Verice Bennett, a first sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, who received the Silver Star in December 2011 for serving with valor in Afghanistan.

Eaton's parents separated when he was two years old. His mother, Roslyn, moved to La Pine, Oregon. He was athletic from a young age, competing in football, basketball, running, soccer, wrestling, and he earned a black belt in taekwondo.^[6] When Eaton was in the fifth grade, he and his mother relocated to Bend, Oregon,^[7] where he later attended Mountain View High School.^[10] Interested in track and field, he was coached by Tate Metcalf and John Nosler. In 2006, he won the state high school 400 m championship in 48.69 seconds and the long jump championship with 24 feet 0.25 inches (7.3216 m). Only a few colleges recruited Eaton. He considered playing football at a Division III college. In the spring of 2006, Metcalf asked Eaton if he would consider the decathlon while in college.^[7] Metcalf suggested that Eaton attend a university with a strong decathlon program, and Eaton chose the University of Oregon.^[6]

Eaton married his University of Oregon teammate, Canadian multi-event athlete Brianne Theisen, on July 15, 2013, one year after both competed in the London Olympics.^[11] The two first met in 2006 during Eaton's freshman year at Oregon and fell in love at the 2007 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, held in Brazil: Theisen won the gold medal for Canada and then followed Eaton to enroll at the University of Oregon.^[12] Since retirement Ashton and Brianne have explored moving from Eugene to San Francisco.^[13]

Eaton was initially coached at Oregon by Dan Steele, the associate director of track and a former decathlete. Under Steele, Eaton rapidly improved in the 1500 m, high jump, hurdles, and pole vault. He improved his pole vault by nearly 4 feet (1.2 m) in one year, and reached 8,000 points by his sixth collegiate decathlon. After Steele left in 2010 to coach at the University of Northern Iowa, the university hired decathlon coach Harry Marra (who had trained Olympic decathletes Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson) to further develop Eaton's skills.^[6]

In his first year as an Oregon Duck 2006–07, he was one of only three freshmen nationwide to qualify provisionally for NCAAs in the combined events, both indoors and outdoors. Finished second in Pac-10 Championships decathlon with a season-best 7,123 points in only his second career decathlon. He then placed third at the USA Junior Championships decathlon (7,155 points) and second in the long jump (24-0.25), the latter of which earned him a trip to Brazil for the 2007 Pan American Junior Championships.^[14]

In 2008, Eaton won the decathlon at the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship.^[15]

In 2009, Eaton defended his decathlon title at the NCAA Championships to win with 8,241 points.^[16] He also won the heptathlon title at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships with 5,988 points. Eaton won the Division I field athlete of the year award in 2009.^[17]

At the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships, Eaton broke the heptathlon world record with a score of 6,499, eclipsing Dan O'Brien's 17-year-old mark by 23 points. In June 2010, he won his third consecutive NCAA decathlon title by finishing first in the decathlon with a personal best of 8,457 points.^[18] He was the first male athlete to win 3 consecutive titles in the decathlon. In 2010, Eaton won The Bowerman, given annually to the best male and female U.S. collegiate track and field athletes.^[19] Eaton graduated from the University of Oregon the same year.^[6]

• Decathlon world record progression
• Men's heptathlon world record progression