Epilogue – A Growing Friendship
by Rob Leachman
From the “Great Rivalries of Olympic Track and Field” Series
This Series
- Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen – Los Angeles 1984 – Part One
- Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen – Los Angeles 1984 – Part Two
- Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen – Los Angeles 1984 – Part Three
- Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen – Los Angeles 1984 – Part Four
- Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen – Los Angeles 1984 – Part Five
For Daley Thompson after winning his second gold medal, his decathlon future seemed limitless, at least in his own mind. He had been open about his desire to win three gold medals. At the time, Bob Mathias, the only individual to win two decathlon Olympic titles, described some correspondence he received from Thompson in 1980. As Mathias recalled, “I got a postcard from him after Moscow. All it said was, ‘I’m going for three.’ It was signed, ‘Daley.’” There would be no more Olympic titles, or medals for that matter, for Daley Thompson.
When asked whether he might continue past the Seoul Olympics in 1988, Thompson responded positively. “Yeah, I think there’s a really good chance of it because there’s nowhere else I want to be. There’s nothing I’d rather do.” Having first tasted Olympic competition in 1976, Daley Thompson could simply not conceive of not pursuing gold medals.
Having reclaimed the world record from his chief rival, it was assumed by many that it was only a matter of time before Thompson would again break that record, possibly becoming the first to exceed 9,000 points. As the two-time gold medalist suggested, “I think I can break the world record in almost any other decathlon.”
Injuries, and perhaps time, would intercede, as neither he nor Jurgen Hingsen would again raise the world standard, though Thompson’s mark set in Los Angeles would stand until broken by Dan O’Brien eight years later.
One Last Battle – European Championships, 1986
Thompson and Hingsen, however, had one last high-level battle at the 1986 European Championships. Neither athlete had completed a decathlon in 1985, and then Thompson had defended his Commonwealth Games title in the summer of 1986. Hingsen had finished second to Siegfried Wentz at the West German Championships.
The European meet in 1986 was held in Stuttgart, West Germany in the huge, 60,000-capacity Neckar Stadium. The near-capacity crowds made for a home meet atmosphere for athletes like Hingsen and Wentz. Interest in the decathlon was heightened in the days before the competition by remarks Daley Thompson made in an interview. In his typical jocular manner, he had offered, “I will win because Jurgen Hingsen is too good-looking (apparently referring to Hingsen’s recent magazine photo spread) and Siggi Wentz is too clever (referring to Wentz’s status as a medical student)”
Wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan, “Ready to Take Care of Business,” Thompson warmed up before the increasingly antagonistic German crowd before stepping into the blocks for the first event. As he distanced himself from the rest of the athletes in his heat of the 100, Thompson lowered his decathlon personal best to a stellar 10.26. Hingsen ran what was for him a good race, clocking 10.87.
Thompson followed his outstanding 100 with solid performances in the long jump (25-4) and shot put (51-7). But Jurgen Hingsen had also arrived in top shape, and with a jump of 25-10 and a shot put of 54-0, he actually cut into Thompson’s lead. When the Brit could only clear 6-6¾ in the high jump, Hingsen took the lead with his leap of 6-11½.
Then, as had happened so many times before, Daley Thompson regained control of the competition. With a solid 400 time of 47.02, he easily surpassed Hingsen’s subpar 48.79, more than a second slower than his personal best. As the athletes retired for the evening, Thompson had clawed back to regain a lead of twenty-eight points.
A decathlon personal best time of 14.04 in the hurdles, nearly a half-second faster than Hingsen, extended Thompson’s lead. But the West German, with a level of competitiveness many underestimated, regained the lead with a strong performance in the discus. Then, in a development reminiscent of the pole vault event at the Olympics two years earlier, Hingsen could clear only 15-9, nearly a foot short of Thompson’s best for the day. The Olympic champion regained a lead he would not relinquish.
As the athletes lined up for the 1,500, the partisan German crowd of nearly 60,000 loudly showered abuse on Thompson any time he performed. In a pounding rain, the world record-holder had only to stay close to Hingsen. He did, finishing just four seconds slower than his rival. His total of 8,811 points was just thirty-six points less than his world record. Jurgen Hingsen had, yet again, finished second to his rival, eighty-one points back. Like in Los Angeles, Wentz finished third, fifty-four points back of his teammate.
In many respects, Hingsen had again been victimized by a poor performance in the pole vault. As he commented, “That was probably the decisive event,” and then added with frustration showing in his voice, “But Thompson also had his lows.”
In commenting about his win, Thompson offered with a smile, “I am pleased to win.” Then he added, “But if I may say so, the spectators were not too nice to me. But I think one of the decisive factors was I was able to rely on my experience.”
Twenty-five years later, when asked what the highlight of his storied career was, Thompson responded, “Funnily enough, not my two Olympic gold medals, (but when) I won the European Championships in 1986 in Stuttgart. My biggest rivals were all German, so all the crowd was for them, and it was nice to shut them all up.”
The decathlon event in the 1980’s had been largely characterized by the rivalry, and subsequent intense competitions that resulted, between Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen. Such as in Stuttgart, Hingsen had competed well but was never able to defeat his bitter rival. After their epic battle at the 1986 European Championships, Thompson and Hingsen would never again face each other in a decathlon that both athletes would complete.
A year later, Thompson and Hingsen traveled to Rome for the 1987 World Championships. All eyes were on the world record-holder who, by this point, had not lost a decathlon in nine years. But battling a groin injury and in poor form, Thompson started the competition with a win in the 100, albeit with a time nearly a half-second slower than what he had run a year earlier in Stuttgart. He followed that performance with subpar performances in the next three events before running, in a downpour, a 400 nearly two seconds slower than his decathlon personal best in the event. Clearly, the defending Olympic and world champion was off form and his long winning streak would come to an end. He faded on the second day, finishing ninth.
Hingsen similarly performed well below the form he had demonstrated just a year earlier. Also dealing with injuries, he withdrew from the competition before clearing a height in the high jump.
The 1987 World Championships were considered the beginning of the changing of the guard in the decathlon. The gold medal in Rome went to Torsten Voss of East Germany, with Seigfried Wentz in second and Pavlo Tarnovetskyy of the Soviet Union in third.
Seoul Olympics, 1988
If the changing of the guard in the decathlon began in Rome in 1987, it was finalized at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. The top five scorers of all time in the event began the competition, but only two of them finished and none medaled. It would be the last Olympic competition for Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen.
For the West German, in what would be his last decathlon, his second Olympic experience was famously brief. Decathletes in the late 1980s were allowed two false starts before being disqualified after the third. In any multi-event competition, with a disqualification largely taking an athlete out of medal contention, three false starts were extremely rare.
In his heat of the 100, the first event of the decathlon, Jurgen Hingsen noticeably jumped before the starting gun sounded. The athletes regrouped and returned to their blocks. For the second time, Hingsen obviously false started. On the third attempt, Hingsen’s false start was less discernible but was detected electronically. With that, his chances of winning a medal ended.
Hingsen protested vehemently, and an appeal was filed contending that he had not been informed that the second false start was against him. His appeal was denied, and he soon withdrew from the competition. His storied career was largely concluded.
Interviewed afterward, Hingsen proclaimed emphatically, “It’s crazy. I didn’t make three false starts, no way. I complained to the officials, but they took no notice of me. It was a catastrophe.” Asked about his fitness and expectations for his second Olympics, he said, “I felt great. It wasn’t a question of beating Daley or anyone else. I wanted to have a great result for myself.”
It was a disappointing end to a stellar career. Faced with a knee injury that likely required surgery and a lengthy period of rehabilitation, Jurgen Hingsen opted to retire from the sport.
Much of the attention in the Seoul decathlon was focused on Daley Thompson, considered by many to be the greatest in the history of the event and the two-time defending gold medalist. But he had performed poorly at the World Championships a year earlier and had not completed a full decathlon since. To many casual fans, Thompson was a sentimental favorite, a giant in the sport seeking to become the first three-time gold medalist in the event. But more knowledgeable track enthusiasts realized the sport was passing by the venerable champion and that time and nagging injuries had turned the thirty-year-old into a shell of the athlete who had performed so brilliantly in the last two Olympics.
Oh, but did he put up a great effort, one of the gutsiest performances of his storied career. And while Thompson downplayed his prospects, even intimating that he was competing just for his enjoyment, those who knew him realized he wanted another medal. Nonchalance was not a part of Daley Thompson’s makeup, particularly in an Olympic competition.
Despite continuing to deal with nagging injuries and the march of time, Thompson led after the first event, posting the best time in the 100. He competed gamely and continued to lead through the first three events. Then, in the high jump, Christian Schenk began to take over the competition. Using the straddle technique that by 1988 was considered antiquated, the big East German cleared 7-5¼, tying the world decathlon record in the event. The twenty-three-year-old would only briefly relinquish the lead in the hurdles to begin the second day, setting four personal bests and equaling another as he won the gold medal with a lifetime best score of 8,488. His teammate, defending world champion Torsten Voss, was hindered by a leg injury but hung on to claim the silver, eighty-nine points behind Schenk.
It soon became clear that Daley Thompson would not win an unprecedented third gold medal. But no decathlete had won three Olympic medals of any color, and with the two East Germans continuing to solidify their top two positions, the focus shifted to whether Thompson could hang on for the bronze. Hampered by nagging injuries, the defending champion and still world record-holder completed the first day with a 49.06 in the 400, over two seconds slower than his time two years earlier in Stuttgart. But he continued to cling to third place.
On the second day, the pole vault was a turning point in Thompson’s quest for a third medal. He had come to Seoul with older pole vault poles with which he was very comfortable. On his opening height, the Brit snapped his pole, injuring his left thigh and right hand. His heavily bandaged left leg would become a critical factor in the final event.
Dave Steen was in eighth place as the athletes lined up for the 1,500 to conclude the competition. Few casual observers gave much thought to his medal prospects given the many athletes he would need to leapfrog to win the bronze. But that is exactly what he did. Running a very solid 4:23.20, Steen amazingly finished in third place.
Daley Thompson had run as fast as 4:26 only two years earlier. But on this day, with a lack of fitness exacerbated by the injury to his leg, he struggled to complete the 1,500 in 4:45.11, one of the slowest times of his amazing career.
Still, Thompson remained defiant, and feisty. “I am going to continue, I reckon, at least for another two or three years,” he commented after the competition. “They are still not better than me. It does not matter what they score.”
Though not necessarily known at the time, when Thompson hobbled across the finish line in the Seoul Olympic Stadium, one of the greatest careers in the history of the decathlon event effectively came to an end.
“The Only Thing Daley Ever Got High on was Himself”
The era in which Daley Thompson competed was characterized by the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs and the initial efforts by governing bodies to control their usage. When asked whether he utilized illegal substances, he responded, “I never used drugs,” and there is no evidence suggesting he used steroids or other such substances or ever tested positive for their usage. As one of his associates suggested, “The only thing Daley Thompson ever got high on was himself.”
Once an individual has either tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) or is otherwise credibly implicated in the use of such substances, depending on the timing of the test, governing bodies like World Athletics or the International Olympic Committee can rescind Olympic medals, in the process moving other competitors up in the standings. For example, if the gold medal winner in an event tested positive for PEDs, after all appeals were adjudicated and denied, the silver medalist would be awarded a gold medal. The list of athletes who have been retroactively stripped of their Olympic medals due to positive drug tests is actually quite long.
In 1988, there were deep suspicions that the East German athletes, who won an outsized number of medals in Seoul, had been engaged in widespread doping, the broad term for using PEDs. But with virtually no positive tests, there was no way to substantiate those rumors. Then in 1990, Stern, a West German magazine, published a lengthy story based on documents it had obtained regarding a systematic doping program supported by the East German government. According to this story, the program was administered by the Sports Medical Service, an arm of the communist government in East Germany. The article suggested that the deputy director of the Sports Medical Service confirmed the authenticity of the documents on which the reporting was based.
Among those named in the documents were Christian Schenk and Torsten Voss, gold and silver medalists in the decathlon at the Seoul Olympics. Voss in particular was incensed, referring to the Stern report as a “flat-out lie” and “absolute smut.” With no actionable evidence beyond the allegations included in these documents, no action was possible regarding any medals won by these athletes.
Then in 2018, in advance of the publication of a biography, Schenk admitted that he had knowingly taken the steroid turinabol throughout his athletic career. “I was doping, and I knew that I doped,” Schenk wrote. As he continued, “At first, I denied having ever taken any banned substances, and then I settled for the somewhat softer legal answer that I never knowingly doped, both of which were a lie.”
Policies of the World Anti-Doping Agency, the organization charged with enforcing doping regulations, suggested: “No anti-doping rule violation proceeding may be commenced against an athlete or other person unless he or she has been notified of the anti-doping violation . . . within ten years from the date the violation is asserted to have occurred.” With thirty years having passed between the awarding of Schenk’s gold medal in Seoul and his admission of doping, the “statute of limitations” had expired and no punitive action was possible.
Though Voss maintained his innocence and asserted that both his world title in 1987 and Olympic silver medal from 1988 had been won legally, there is evidence that top East German athletes participated in a state-sponsored doping program. And Voss was specifically named in the Stern article documenting that program.
The importance of this to Daley Thompson, who in 1988 fought gallantly to become the first decathlete to win three Olympic medals in the event, is clear. There is evidence suggesting that two of the decathlon medalists at the Seoul Olympics had engaged in the use of performance-enhancing drugs in a manner that bolstered the performance of each athlete and that, under different circumstances, might have caused the forfeiture of their medals. Had that occurred, Thompson would have received that historic third medal.
But of course, Schenk and Voss both retained their medals and Thompson was left still striving for further Olympic glory.
By 1992, with the Barcelona Games on the horizon, Daley Thompson had not completed a decathlon since hobbling across the finish line in Seoul four years earlier. Somewhat surprisingly, the nine-member panel charged with selecting the British team traveling to Barcelona named Thompson to his fifth Olympic team. This was even though only one British decathlete, David Bigham, had met the Olympic qualifying mark of 7,850, almost 1,000 points less than Thompson’s still-standing world record. The defending Olympic champion was given twelve days to meet the qualifying standard.
Though he was suffering from a nagging shoulder injury, Thompson had submitted a written plea asking for additional time to meet the standard. The selecting committee was sympathetic, and no doubt noted the stature of arguably the greatest decathlete in history. As a spokesman explained, “I can understand that it might be seen as controversial, but we’ve made a special exception for a special man—Daley Thompson. We think we owe it to him.” The spokesman acknowledged that making an exception for one athlete represented a controversial decision, but one that the committee felt was justified. “It’s because Daley is a legend,” he responded with candor. “If a man of his caliber writes to us to ask for extra time, we felt he had to be given it.”
Given twelve additional days to qualify for the Games, Daley Thompson still had to perform.
To meet the qualifying standard, Thompson traveled to Trondheim, Norway to compete in a dual meet between Great Britain and Norway. In cold and rainy conditions that Thompson suggested contributed to his poor performance, he withdrew after completing just four events, including an 11.18 time in the 100, the slowest of his career, and a 21-3¼ long jump, the shortest of his career.
But Thompson was undeterred. Commenting after withdrawing from the competition, he said, “The selectors have given me until next Friday to get the standard, and there’ll be no problem getting another decathlon put on . . . I still think I can do the job—not as well as I used to maybe, but I can do the qualifying score given nice conditions. Don’t write me off yet.”
Just a few days later, Thompson was at the historic Crystal Palace preparing to begin a decathlon competition that had been arranged for him to have one last chance to meet the Olympic qualifying standard. He pulled up in the first event, the 100, with a strained hamstring and withdrew from the competition. When asked if this meant the end of his career, Thompson responded, “Yes it does.”
And just like that, the competitive career of arguably the greatest decathlete in the history of the event had come to an end.
“A Certain Brotherhood”
After retiring following the 1988 Olympics, Jurgen Hingsen became involved in entrepreneurial businesses, served as an ambassador for various brands and products, and developed an extensive career as a motivational speaker. A joy of his life was his two daughters, now grown. Now in his sixties, he is still revered in Germany as one of its greatest track and field athletes.
There were some similarities between Hingsen’s post-competitive life and that of Daley Thompson. Thompson has also served as a brand ambassador and motivational speaker and has also been involved in business development. A colorful character on the track, some of his post-competitive life has been similarly uniquely interesting. He played professional soccer for a brief time and promoted a video game titled “Daley Thompson’s Decathlon.” For a time, he ran a fitness and conditioning business that worked with various professional sports franchises. He later opened a gym which was called “Daley Fitness.”
Thompson offered “coaching guidance and inspiration” to Britain’s top developing track and field athletes through what was called the “Future Olympians” program. As the Olympics headed to London in 2012, he served as an ambassador for those Games.
Like Hingsen, Thompson is a proud father, with five children. A special source of pride is his son, Elliot, who in 2022, forty-six years after his father won his first national title, became the British senior national decathlon champion. As Daley Thompson commented, “Elliot is living proof that hard work, patience, and sticking at it pays off. He is a national champion and I am just delighted.”
So, what do we make of this great rivalry between arguably the greatest decathlete of all time and the world record-breaking athlete who for years sought to overtake him? They broke the world decathlon record seven times, four by Thompson and three by Hingsen. When each athlete was at his peak, most notably in Los Angeles in 1984, they pushed each other to higher and higher levels. But each time they met, the German champion came up just a bit short. Though Thompson dubbed his rival “Hollywood Hingsen,” and though each athlete, especially the two-time gold medalist, was prone to making bold statements about upcoming competitions and about each other, the rivalry was never truly a bitter one. But undoubtedly, without the other, neither would have reached the historic levels of performance that characterized their rivalry. And in time after each had retired from competition, they became good friends, seeing each other regularly.
As Thompson suggested in 2006, “I normally see Jurgen once a year. He brings his family over to watch the tennis at Wimbledon. He’s around and he’s healthy.” Then, returning to his joking demeanor, he added, “I think he’s probably going to challenge me at something soon; I suspect I’ll take him, as always.”
To Hingsen, their post-Olympic relationship is even more special. “There’s a certain brotherhood, an energy when we meet,” he offered. “I am always happy when I am in Daley’s company because there is something that connects us. It’s something I want to cherish for the rest of my life.”
Regarding the intensity of the rivalry that developed, Hingsen said, “In the beginning, when we didn’t know each other well, it was extremely competitive. We were absolute archrivals. And that is exactly what shaped our duel.” Then he stressed, “But it was never hate, we actually respected each other.”
At times, the jovial Thompson turned serious when discussing Hingsen. “To tell you how much I respected him,” Thompson offered regarding his rival, “if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have trained for 350 days a year, five or six hours a day. I knew he was as good as me, always within arm’s reach of catching up with me.”
A relationship built on mutual respect and the shared experience of intense competition, Jurgen Hingsen and Daley Thompson had come to enjoy each other’s company. As Hingsen reflected, “We hated each other. This guy called me ‘Hollywood Hingsen.’ He put my picture on the toilet, stuff like that. He thought he was God’s greatest gift.”
Thompson quickly and characteristically retorted with a smile, “And now, looking back, I was telling the truth.”
References
Associated Press, 1992, “Czechoslovakia’s Zelezny Shatters Record in Javelin,” published in The New York Times, July 5, 1992
Chalmers, Robert, 2008, “The Champion the Time Forgot: Why Do We Find It Hard to Love Daley Thompson?”, The Independent, July 27, 2008, downloaded from www.independent.co.uk
European Athletics, 2020, “Reigning Champion Thompson Silences the Stuttgart Crowd,”, September 8, 2020, downloaded from www.european-athletics.com
Ewing, Lori, 2018, “Canadian Olympic Medalist Dave Steen Relives Impact of Rival’s Doping Success,”, The Canadian Press, September 11, 2018, downloaded from theprovince.com
FPZ, 2017, “Press Release – FPZ Interview with Jurgen Hingsen,” November 29, 2017, downloaded from https://news-fpz-de.translate.goog/pressreleases
Goetz, Felix, 2015, “Pole Vaulting Gangster Escape,”, Spox, November 24, 2015, downloaded from www-spox-com.translate.goog
Harvey, Randy, 1988, “Hingsen Fouls Out in First Event of Decathlon,”, Los Angeles Times, September 28, 1988
The Independent, 2006, “Daley Thompson – ‘Back Then We Weren’t Satisfied. We All Wanted to be the Best,” July 6, 2006, downloaded from www.independent.co.uk
Janofsky, Michael, 1990, “Drug Use by Prominent Athletes Reported,”, The New York Times, November 29, 1990
Johnson, Dave, 1987, “T&FN Interview with Daley Thompson,” Track and Field News, May 1987
Kollat, Matt, 2021, “Britain’s Greatest Olympic Athlete’ Didn’t Get That Many Royalties’ from Daley Thompson’s Decathlon,”, T3, July 26, 2021, downloaded from www.t3.com
Los Angeles Times, 1988, “Decathlon: East Germans Finish 1-2; Thompson Ends Up in 4th Place,”, September 30, 1988, downloaded from www.latimes.com
McEvoy, Jonathan, 2012, “Decathlon Icons! Daley and Hingsen Recall an Olympic Rivalry That Shook the World,” Daily Mail, July 24, 2012, downloaded from www.dailymail.co.uk/
Nelson, Cordner, 1986, Track’s Greatest Champions, Los Altos, California: TAFNews Press, 1986
The New York Times, 1992, “Thompson Retires,” July 10, 1992
Noden, Merrill, 1990, “A Dirty System,” Sports Illustrated, December 17, 1990
Pavitt, Michael, 2018, “Seoul 1988 Olympic Champion Schenk Admits Doping in Book but Will Keep Gold,”, Inside the Games, September 1, 2018, downloaded from www.insidethegames.biz
Rozin, Skip, 1984, “The Making of a Decathlon Champion,” The New York Times, June 3, 1984
Spink, Alex, 2022, “Daley Thompson Gives Emotional Reaction to Son Becoming GB Decathlon Champion,” Daily Mirror, June 26, 2022, downloaded from www.mirror.co.uk
Track and Field News, “World Rankings – Men’s Decathlon,”, downloaded from trackandfieldnews.com
UPI, 1992, “Daley Gets Second Chance for Barcelona,”, June 29, 1992, downloaded from www.upi.com/Archives
Zarnowski, Frank, 1989, The Decathlon, Champaign, Illinois: Leisure Press
