“Titanic Battle in LA”
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
Everyone likes a good rivalry, especially the media and particularly in the runup to an Olympic Games.
The Thompson-Hingsen rivalry was gaining notoriety in the track and field world. And every four years, the fan base for the sport multiplies, at least temporarily, as viewers sit glued to their televisions watching in amazement as athletes accomplish amazing feats. Goaded by the media, storylines began to develop as each Olympics approached. And for 1984, the confrontation between the two best decathletes in the world became one of those top storylines.
Also a product of media stories, each athlete was assigned a personality type. Daley Thompson was portrayed as an outgoing, boisterous, crowd-loving extrovert who was always seeking an audience. Based largely on his height, body build, hairstyle, and mustache, and reinforced by Thompson calling him “Hollywood,” Jurgen Hingsen was seen as an attention-loving playboy.
Neither personality type was completely accurate.
As Daley Thompson explained, “People have gotten the idea that I’m an outgoing guy and extrovert. I’m not, but people expect me to live up to my image. When there are lots of people around, they expect me to be loud, jovial, silly, making pranks all the time.”
His exuberance at competitions was more than for show, as Thompson fed off the energy of his fellow competitors, especially those he considered his friends. He fed off the energy of large and knowledgeable crowds, contributing to his success in the largest competitions like the Olympic Games, World Championships, and European Championships. He could often be seen smiling during these events because he was genuinely enjoying himself.
As Hingsen commented about his rival’s demeanor during competitions, “Thompson is a very self-confident guy. He likes to joke, to dance around. You know, a little bit of Muhammad Ali. It used to get to me. But not anymore.”
But as Daley Thompson matured as an athlete, he became more private, eschewing attention outside of competitions as much as possible. As he wrote, “If people could understand just what is involved in preparing for and competing in the decathlon, it might make this strange relationship between athlete and fan more satisfactory for both of us. There is a feeling that anyone who performs in public becomes public property. I do not believe that . . . What I owe (spectators) is what I owe myself—to do the very best I can each time I compete, or to stay at home.”
Skip Rozin, the author of Daley Thompson – The Subject is Winning, relates a story that portrays Thompson’s evolving relationship with the public. In 1981, Rozin traveled to London as he researched his book. One afternoon, he and Thompson were standing in line at a McDonald’s restaurant waiting to place their orders. They planned to eat their meal in a booth as the athlete answered the author’s questions. As they were waiting in line, some boys in an adjacent line began staring and pointing at Thompson. Soon, a dozen or more in the restaurant had recognized the Olympic champion and were staring at and talking about him. As he placed his order, he quickly added, “Make that to go”—the two ate their lunch in Thompson’s car. The athlete explained, “People always assume that part of you is theirs. I’m not into other people’s property.”
For his part, Jurgen Hingsen said, “I’m no playboy.” As his wife, Jeanne, reiterated, “When Jurgen becomes a playboy, the Pope will marry.” Though perhaps no playboy, Hingsen showed far less aversion to the attention of an admiring public. He had gained great popularity in West Germany, and the media had dubbed him the “German Hercules.” In some respects, though, his penchant for gaining publicity resulted in a slight rift with his West German teammates, most notably the venerable Guido Kratschmer and the rising superstar Siegfried Wentz. Resentful of the notoriety Hingsen had received, the two teammates had remarked to the German media that they viewed the California influence he exhibited to be bluster.
The West German’s American-born wife, Jeannie, provided a comparison between her husband and his chief rival. “They’re both very different athletes,” she offered. “Daley is physically strong and capable. He can be comical, a light joker, and this can be a problem. Jurgen is a little more sensitive. He doesn’t have to show his aggressiveness to get fired up. His approach is different.” She added, “He’s a nifty guy, a kind of underdog.”
Winter Training in California
As the two decathlon superstars readied for their much-anticipated clash in Los Angeles, each returned to California to take advantage of weather far more conducive to training than either would find in his native country. As Thompson suggested early in his six-month stay in San Diego, “The reason why I’m in California now living and training, is that the weather is so bad at home—even just last week it was snowing—and I want to be in such good shape, I’ve come over three months earlier than I normally do.” Then, he described the impact of the move to a warmer climate on his training, stating, “The extra couple of hours I can put in every day might be reflected in my scores at the end of the year.”
For Thompson, arguably the best all-around track and field athlete in the world, there were additional benefits from training in San Diego. In London, where track was a more popular sport, Daley Thompson was a true celebrity, with people often recognizing him and occasionally interrupting his workouts. California, where the typical individual he encountered was neither a diehard track fan nor a fan of Thompson, he could complete his workouts in relative anonymity.
But most of his workout mates had largely moved on, lacking Thompson’s talent and needing to lead more normal lives. Richard Slaney was still around, but by 1984, even Pan Zeniou, Thompson’s closest decathlon friend, had largely left the sport. As he had suggested two years earlier, “He (Thompson) wants me to go on to 1984. It will be very difficult. I know what he’s going to do, and I want to be part of it, but I’ll be thirty-one then—what will I have?” As Thompson pondered the decisions of friends like Zeniou, Stoney Brooks, David Baptiste, and others, to end or scale back their careers, he said with a tinge of sorrow, “They find other things, or they realize it’s never to be.”
With none of his British mates available, Thompson turned to John Crist, a top American decathlete, as his primary training partner. Crist would go on to win the decathlon at the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials and then finish sixth at the Los Angeles Games. But in San Diego the previous winter and spring, Crist served as a training partner for the best decathlete in the world, an athlete who thrived on camaraderie.
Still largely self-coached, Thompson pushed himself in San Diego . . . perhaps too hard. As he related in the runup to the 1984 Olympics, “Every successive morning you wake up with some kind of residual tiredness in you. If you start day A at 100%, maybe at day Z you’re feeling only 40%, yet you have to train harder. The tiredness just gets worse and worse . . . from the total amount of what you do and the amount of hours you spend doing it. Because there really aren’t enough hours in the day to do enough. I would like to be able to do more . . .”
Thompson followed a schedule similar to what he had utilized through much of his career. Each morning, he studied books and journals dealing with track and field techniques and training methods before getting breakfast and getting to the track by around 10:30. He worked until around 1:30 when he took some time for lunch before returning at around 3:00 and working until dark. The weather was seldom an issue in the Southern California climate, and he interspersed track sessions, field event work, and weight-lifting workouts throughout the week. In San Diego, he could work in typically ideal conditions well into the night. Driven as he was, with only John Crist to act as a moderating force, and with Jurgen Hingsen awaiting him in Los Angeles, Daley Thompson worked as hard as he had ever worked before.
Thompson’s only pre-Olympic decathlon occurred at UCLA in Los Angeles in late May, two-and-a-half months before the Olympics. It was an impromptu meet organized largely for Thompson’s benefit, and the defending gold medalist performed well if not, by his lofty standards, great. With 7,938 points through nine events in a competition designed merely as a warmup for the biggest meet of any four-year cycle, Thompson opted not to run the 1,500. “I could have got a score of 8,500, which is good for most people, but it was not what I was looking for.” A largely meaningless but still exhausting race of nearly a mile would have delayed his training schedule, so he withdrew. But he had accomplished what he had hoped for in traveling to Los Angeles from his training base in San Diego.
With this performance coupled with a 10.28 time in an open 100 two weeks earlier, Thompson was approaching readiness to defend his Olympic title.
But, of course, there was Jurgen Hingsen. The world record holder returned to California with his wife, Jeannie, and Norbert Pixken for several months of training in Santa Barbara. Hingsen’s focus was on improving and preparing for the Olympics, with the West German Olympic Trials in the interim. But his mind was also focused on Daley Thompson, the rival he had thus far failed to defeat in five meetings. When asked about his charge’s prospects, Coach Pixken responded, “. . . I’m not sure about 9,000 points, but yes, he can beat Thompson.” For his part, after a particularly tough sprint workout, Jurgen Hingsen offered, “Sometimes, at the end of a hard session, I do the last one for Daley.”
It was a productive time for Hingsen, as he worked diligently with Pixken and Heinz-Josef Chlosta, a coach specializing in field events. He typically trained for around five hours each day, completing a weightlifting session in the morning and then working on sprint speed and field event techniques in the afternoon. Though he was working to eke out a few more points in each event, Hingsen considered himself superior to Thompson in most of them. “In seven disciplines, I’m better than Thompson. He’s only better in the sprints.” Though aware of Thompson’s reputation as a fierce competitor in big competitions, Pixken said of Hingsen, “He has a clear head, no problems psychologically.”
According to both athlete and coach, Jurgen Hingsen possessed the talent and mental toughness to defeat his chief rival. Now, he simply needed to do so.
Hingsen’s Third World Record
Hingsen put down a serious marker in that quest at the West German Olympic Trials in early June in Mannheim. He had bettered the world mark in 1982 and 1983, and though his fitness level suggested a new record was possible, conditions seemed to be working against him. First, weather conditions were poor, with intermittent showers threatening to wreak havoc on some of the more technical events. Second, he had tweaked his elbow, and the resulting soreness threatened to hinder Hingsen in events like the pole vault, shot put, and discus. But in no event is the elbow more critical than the javelin, and the big West German had thrown the javelin little in training and had to be very cautious in this competition to prevent “blowing out” his elbow just two months before competing in Los Angeles.
The elbow did impact his performance in the javelin, but that was the only event in which he was subpar. He ran a personal best 10.70 in the 100, which put him 56 points ahead of his pace when he set the world record the previous year. A 25-5½ long jump added another three points to his gap on his world mark. In the shot, he reached a stellar 53-10½, his second personal best of the day, and he was suddenly eighty-six points better than his record. Decathlon enthusiasts began to wonder if the elusive 9,000 mark was in play.
Then rain hindered performances in the high jump, and the big West German could only manage 6-9½, three inches under his world record performance and four inches under his personal best. With that performance followed by a 48.05 time in the 400, Hingsen ended the first day twelve points ahead of his world record with an impressive 4,536 points.
He started the day with another personal best, running the hurdles in 14.07. He followed that performance with yet another PR, 161-11 in the discus, surpassing his previous best by over eight feet. He then matched his personal best in the pole vault with a 16-¾ and he was 108 points ahead of his own world record pace. Barring a poor performance, his third record in three seasons seemed nearly assured.
That “poor performance” came in the javelin. Experiencing soreness and wanting to protect his elbow, Hingsen had to utilize a shortened and unusual technique. He admitted he was “very far off my normal performance.” He could only reach 196-4, over twenty-four feet under his personal best. He was now just nineteen points ahead of the world record.
To break that record, Hingsen needed to clock 4:22.3 in the 1,500, two-and-a-half seconds under what he had run a year earlier in setting the world standard. He ran 4:19.75 and his third world record was his, breaking the old one by nineteen points.
Joining Jurgen Hingsen on a powerhouse West German decathlon team were Siegfried Wentz and the venerable Guido Kratschmer.
There were historic qualities in Hingsen’s performance. He had broken the world record three times, a feat that had been completed only by Paavo Yrjola of Finland, Americans Bob Mathias, Rafer Johnson, Bruce Jenner, and . . . Daley Thompson.
The boycott of the Moscow Olympics four years earlier had taken much of the luster from those Games. As a result, it came as little surprise when just three months before the Los Angeles Games were scheduled to begin, the Soviet Union announced that its athletes would not be competing. Virtually all Soviet satellite nations and most other communist countries in the world quickly followed suit. In announcing the boycott, Soviet officials cited “security concerns and chauvinistic sentiments.” Without a doubt, though, this boycott of an Olympics to be conducted on American soil was direct retaliation for what the United States had done four years earlier.
Among the decathletes ranked in the top ten in the Track and Field News annual rankings for 1983, five athletes, three Soviet and two East German, would not be traveling to Los Angeles. Though the list of top medal contenders remained largely unchanged, some significant talent had been removed from the competition for political reasons.
In 1984, the rivalry between Daley Thompson and Jurgen Hingsen reached its peak. For his part, Hingsen made few bold assertions, suggesting he was capable of winning the gold medal, perhaps in part to convince himself of that prospect. His training partner in Santa Barbara in the winter of 1984 was the American decathlete, Jim Wooding. He would finish in seventh place in Los Angeles, one spot behind John Crist, Daley Thompson’s training partner.
Wooding offered a unique perspective regarding the upcoming Olympic competition and the two rivals projected to battle for the gold medal. “I like Hingsen a lot; he doesn’t like to brag,” Woodimg suggested. “Daley is a nice guy but he likes to be the center of attention. If I had to choose someone, I’d choose Hingsen, but he has to get off to a good start because he lets things bother him.” Offering his perspective regarding the intensity of this rivalry, Wooding added, “If one of them gets ahead, and the other guy knows he can’t win, he may just drop out so the other guy can’t say he beat him.”
While Hingsen was trying to exude confidence but otherwise avoiding overly bold pronouncements, Daley Thompson was far less subdued as the Los Angeles Games approached. As he proclaimed a week before the competition, “I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in and I hope next week to be able to show it.” Regarding his rival, he was even more direct. “I hear that Jurgen has promised the Germans he will bring home a gold medal. Well, the only way he’ll do that is if he steals mine—or does another event,” he proclaimed. Becoming a bit introspective, he added, “Anything less than the gold for me means that I haven’t done well. I will just feel relief when it’s all over.”
In the Track and Field News “Olympic Preview” edition, the analysts suggested that the decathlon “could be the most exciting one-on-one battle of the Games,” the only one featuring two athletes in their prime each of whom had broken the world record three times. In their analysis of the event, it was suggested that Hingsen’s event bests totaled 9,088 while Thompson’s totaled 9,017. But they stressed that the German had never beaten Thompson, that Thompson had much more experience in large championship meets, and that the Brit was a “marvelous competitor.” In fact, the defending Olympic champion had not lost a decathlon he had completed in six years.
The prognosticators on the five-member panel were unanimous in their predictions: Daley Thompson would win his second gold medal, Jurgen Hingsen the silver, and Siegfried Wentz the bronze medal. As has not been uncommon in the seventy-five-year history of the magazine, the predictors were spot on.
Los Angeles Olympics, 1984
As the athletes entered the Los Angeles Olympic Stadium on a sun-strewn morning in August, most eyes were focused on two decathletes, among the greatest to have ever competed in the event. Jurgen Hingsen walked onto the infield wearing a floppy “bucket” hat to shield his head from the intense California sun that was expected that day. Bringing up the rear, jogging to catch up with the other athletes, Daley Thompson wore a baggy t-shirt with different shades of blue stripes and a baseball cap to shield his head.
To start the competition with the 100, Hingsen was lined up in lane two with the first lane open, and Thompson was in lane eight, with Hingsen’s West German teammates, Siegfried Wentz and Guido Kratschmer in lanes five and six. The West Germans were dressed in traditional white uniforms with a red stripe and the West German symbol on the chest. Thompson was similarly clad in the traditional white British uniform with blue and red stripes across the chest.
At the gun, Thompson shot out of the blocks and was clearly in the lead by the ten-meter mark. He expanded that lead and finished in 10.44, equaling his best decathlon 100 and only 0.06 seconds off the world decathlon record. Hingsen was clocked in 10.91, 0.21 slower than his time in his last world record. Right out of the blocks, the defending gold medalist was 122 points ahead of his greatest rival and the current world record holder.
In the long jump, Thompson continued his stellar performance, reaching 25-8 on each of his first two jumps. But Hingsen was a strong competitor as well, as he approached Thompson’s best with his leap of 25-7¼. Knowing the German’s best events were on the horizon, Thompson dug deep on his last attempt, jumping 26-3½, an effort exceeded in a decathlon only by his own wind-aided effort. He increased his lead over Hingson to 164 points.
Great decathletes often demonstrate their competitive mettle in events that aren’t their strongest. Thompson had his best shot put performance in a decathlon, a throw of 51-7 that was stellar for him. Sensing the quality of his throw, he left the circle with a smile before briefly raising his arms into the air. Hingsen exceeded that mark with his 52-¾, a solid mark but one that was nearly two feet short of what he had thrown in his world record performance two months earlier. Thompson’s lead had decreased to 155 points, but compared to his potential, Hingsen had lost ground in one of his stronger events.
With the shot put behind him, if Hingsen was going to make a first-day move, it had to be in the high jump. And Thompson nearly created an opening for the German to gain significant ground on his rival. Realizing that Hingsen was a superior jumper, Thompson needed to reduce the margin between the two athletes as much as possible. But with the bar at 6-8, the height the Brit had cleared in setting his last world record and in winning the world title in 1983, Thompson missed on his first two attempts. As he had so often when facing adversity in a competition, he gathered himself, approached the bar with his characteristic speed, and cleared the bar easily. But he could go no higher.
As Thompson was struggling to clear 6-8, Hingsen was having his own challenges. He had experienced soreness in his right knee, his take-off leg, in the runup to the Games. As he was jumping at lower heights on this day, that knee flared up again, causing him to noticeably limp and rub his knee after landing in the pit. As he later described the situation, “Even in the warmup, I already had a problem with my right knee, it’s my jumping foot. And then on the first height, I came too close to the bar and that even caused a much worse injury.” He received multiple injections of painkillers from West German team doctors until he was told he could receive no more shots for what was later diagnosed as a sprained tendon in his right knee.
Hingsen continued in the high jump, ultimately clearing 6-11½, lower than his best but on this day, a strong performance. He reduced Thompson’s lead by seventy-seven votes.
To conclude a long first day, the top contenders lined up for the final heat of the 400. Thompson shot out of the blocks in lane six and by the 200-meter mark had made up the stagger on Hingsen in lane eight. In their last meeting, Hingsen had outrun his rival in the 400. But on this day, Thompson won going away, clocking 46.97, only slightly slower than his decathlon best. Hingsen ran well, his 47.69 just 0.04 seconds off his own personal best, but still lost to Thompson by seven meters.
It had been a historic day, with Thompson amassing 4,633 points, the best first-day performance in decathlon history. But Hingsen had been similarly outstanding, his 4.519 just eighteen points less than his first-day performance when he last set the world record. Despite that, he trailed by 114 points. With continued strong performances, particularly in the hurdles, discus, javelin, and 1,500, in each of which he had the potential to better Thompson, Hingsen still had a shot at the gold medal. It seemed increasingly possible, perhaps even likely, that whoever won the competition would also walk away with a new world record.
In the hurdles to begin the second day, Hingsen made a move, albeit a small one. Running a clean race from the outside lane, the German powered his 6-7 frame over the ten barriers in a solid 14.29, just 0.22 slower than his time in setting the world record. For his part, Thompson shot out of the blocks but hit nine hurdles. Still, his 14.34 was only 0.08 slower than his best. After six events, the defending champion’s lead was down to 108 points.
Continuing to show his competitive mettle, Jurgen Hingsen made an even bigger move in the discus, reaching a distance that forced Thompson to respond with possibly the greatest moment in his decathlon career. Despite his larger and more muscular body, Hingsen was typically outperformed by his rival in the discus event. But in Los Angeles, on his first throw, Hingsen opened with an impressive throw, yelling “ah ba” as he released the discus on a high arc. The throw measured 163-5. On his first attempt, Thompson’s throw came out flat and landed only 124-4 away, nearly forty feet less than his rival’s. In the second round, Hingsen added to his personal best, raising his arms in the air and jumping up and down in the ring as he watched the implement land 166-9 away, an Olympic record in the decathlon. Thompson needed to respond in the second round to avoid being forced to make a clutch throw on his final attempt, perhaps a more daunting task for lesser competitors but a circumstance to be avoided nonetheless. He improved, but only to 135-4, over thirty feet short of Hingsen’s best throw of the day. On his third and final attempt, Jurgen Hingsen did not improve.
At that point in the competition, with Thompson having one more attempt in the discus, Jurgen Hingsen had erased the Brit’s 108-point advantage and actually led by sixty-eight points. If Thompson didn’t improve, substantially, on his final discus throw, and with Hingsen holding an advantage in two of the three remaining events, the gold medal would suddenly be Jurgen Hingsen’s to lose.
There is a point in the careers of most great athletes when they are granted the opportunity to demonstrate their competitiveness, their greatness. This was Daley Thompson’s moment. As he later explained, “It was kind of like the moment I’ve always been looking for. Everything at the end of the day has got to be a test. And this moment was like my test.” As he continued, “This was like everything that had ever gone on beforehand didn’t mean anything. And this was the moment to go and look over the goddamn cliff and face what was down there. That was the biggest moment for me, ever.”
Facing those circumstances, trying to salvage a second gold medal, a lesser athlete could have played it safe, completing a controlled throw that would minimize his deficit to his rival. But on this sunny afternoon in Los Angeles, Daley Thompson refused to play it safe.
He entered the ring for that critical third attempt with a facial expression that was closer to a grin than a grimace and showed little of the competitive stress he had to be feeling. He spun across the ring in a forceful motion and released the discus in a much higher arc than on his first two attempts. Seeing where the implement landed, Thompson wiggled his hips back and forth and then thrust his right fist triumphantly.
Faced with a turning point in the competition, and his “test,” Daley Thompson had thrown 152-9, another personal best in the decathlon. He had lost seventy-six points of his lead, but he had avoided the huge swing he had been facing. He had passed his “test” in an amazing fashion.
Still, Hingsen had clawed his way back into gold medal contention, trailing by only thirty-two points. If he could stay close to Thompson, a better vaulter, in the next event, and then outthrow his rival in the javelin, something that seemed very possible despite his lingering elbow problems, then the Olympic title would be determined in the last event, the 1,500. And as Hingsen had suggested before traveling to Los Angeles, “If it comes down to the 1,500, I’ll blow him away.” It did not.
In the pole vault, both athletes opened at 14-9, which should have been an easy clearance for each of them. The event would result in the demise of any gold medal chances for Jurgen Hingsen. On his first attempt, he didn’t come close to clearing the bar, aborting the vault in mid-flight. As he later explained, “. . . the stadium was very hot. I was sitting underneath a sun umbrella, and I got really dizzy and drowsy. . . When they called my name for my first attempt, it was totally strange for me. There could have been ten coaches and ten people who told me how to jump, I couldn’t have done it at that time. I was totally out of control.” During the event, he got sick and vomited twice, and then had difficulty gripping the pole and experienced pain in his hand.
Decades later, Hingsen reflected on the challenges he faced in the pole vault. “For tall guys, pole vault is a pain in the ass, to get 220 pounds up there. That’s not very easy. Most of the Olympic heroes at that time were much smaller than me—the size of Daley, a little taller maybe. It is not ideal to be as tall as me.”
He didn’t come close to clearing the bar on his second attempt, putting him in jeopardy of a no-height performance in one of the ten events. With no mark, not only would he lose all chance of a gold medal, but also of any medal. On his third attempt, Hingsen barely slinked over the bar, clearing a subpar 14-9. He would go no higher.
Meanwhile, Daley Thompson put on a veritable clinic in decathlon pole vaulting. After Hingsen failed to clear the next height, Thompson sensed an opportunity to secure the gold medal with two events yet to be contested. With Hingsen watching, he cleared 15-5 on his second attempt. He missed 16-¾ on his first two attempts then cleared the bar, allowing him to continue in the competition. He finally cleared 16-4¾, over a foot-and-a-half better than Hingsen’s best, and did a backflip into the pole vault pit to celebrate his performance. With each inch of clearance worth around six points, the pole vault was weighted more heavily than most of the other events. With Thompson’s strong performance coupled with Hingsen’s poor one, the defending champion added 120 points to his lead, now 152 with only the javelin and 1,500 remaining. Barring injury or disaster, the gold medal was Thompson’s.
And Jurgen Hingsen knew it. As he recounted, “I couldn’t reach him anymore, that was clear. I just had to finish as a real athlete finishes. So, I still tried to do my best in javelin.”
Up until the pole vault, it had been a masterful duel between two outstanding decathletes, one of whom would be considered by some to be the greatest in the history of the event. Through seven events, Jurgen Hingsen had been outstanding. On this day, though, he had again simply not been as good as Daley Thompson.
In the javelin, Hingsen was clearly bothered by the sore elbow that had hampered him all season. He reached only 198-3, twenty-four feet under his personal best. Thompson, continuing his competitive roll, threw 214-0, within a half-foot of his decathlon best. His lead going into the 1,500 was a safe 209 points. In the eyes of many track enthusiasts, the primary question yet to be answered was by how much Thompson would break Hingsen’s world record.
To break the world record, Thompson needed only to run 4:34.8, and just 0.20 faster than that to become the first over the 8,800 mark. With a decathlon best of 4:22.8. and with the electricity of a full Olympic stadium to draw from, both accomplishments seemed to be inevitable. Except for Daley Thompson.
Like few athletes before him, Thompson thrived on adversity, on needing to rise to overcome challenges. It was the type of visceral motivation he needed to reach his highest level of performance. He had faced that type of adversity in Los Angeles, at least through eight events. But when Jurgen Hingsen ceased to be a real challenge to him, his motivation waned. “Before the pole vault, I thought I had a chance of scoring 9,000,” he explained. “But after Jurgen went out at such a low height, my real interest kind of diminished and I was just trying to get through with the least possible effort.” Heading into the 1,500, Thompson led by 211 points. Thompson knew he had the competition won; informed track enthusiasts knew it as well. And as the 1,500 approached, so too did Hingsen, who came over to shake hands with Thompson and congratulate him. With seemingly little to run for in the 1,500, at least little that in that setting meant much to him, Daley Thompson opted for fun.
At the gun, Jurgen Hingsen shot into the lead; despite his challenges in the pole vault, the West German competed to the end. Running with him for most of the race was his teammate, Siegfried Wentz, who entered the event trailing the third West German, Guido Kratschmer, by one point. Wentz would complete the 1,500 fourteen seconds faster than Kratschmer and secure the bronze medal by eighty-six points. Hingsen pushed to the end, finishing in 4:22.60 to secure the silver medal with 8,673 points.
The capacity crowd in the Olympic Stadium had thinned by the time the last group of decathletes lined up for the 1,500. But many of those still in the stands were knowledgeable track fans who grasped that a world record was in the offing. The crowd cheered Thompson as he lumbered around the track, waiting for him to pick up the pace needed to ensure what had been considered an inevitable world record; he never did.
Needing a time of 4:34.8 to set a new mark, he finished in 4:35.0; he finished one point short but was unfazed. As he explained, “At the end of the day, it’s how badly I want it that is going to get me those extra few points, not a million people cheering for me.” As he continued, “All I wanted to do was win . . . I was having a good time and trying to enjoy it . . . There are other times to break the record.” Regarding his mindset during the race, he said, “All I was thinking about was winning. The last 100 meters, I was just running on feeling. I was having a good time.”
Regarding Thompson’s unexpected near-miss of the world record, Jurgen Hingsen said, “If he didn’t break the record, it’s his problem, not mine. He was pretty surprised after he saw the points. Me, too.” Regarding his own performance, he reflected, “I’m happy with the silver medal.” But when asked about some sort of blockage preventing him from defeating Thompson, Hingsen gruffly responded, “That is garbage.”
Interviewed after some time had passed, Hingsen was more circumspect about his latest loss to his primary rival. “On one hand, it’s very sad for me,” he offered. “On the other hand, it keeps me going because I still hope and think I can beat him, at least one time.”
After the competition, Daley Thompson’s comments ranged from circumspect to rather biting regarding his victory and rivalry with Jurgen Hingsen. “The last couple of days, I’ve had the biggest buzz of my life. I’ve won the Olympics twice now. I’ve been living out here in a fair amount of seclusion. It’s made this lonely event worthwhile.” But when asked whether the result would have been different if he had an impressively large body like Hingsen, he responded, “If my name was Daley Thompson, I’d have won. If it was Jurgen Hingsen, I’d be second.” Over two decades later, even as he was developing a relationship with his former rival, Thompson half-jokingly maintained a cryptic manner regarding Hingsen at the Los Angeles Games. When asked about the West German throwing up prior to the pole vault, Thompson responded, “Of course he was. It’s tough out there. It’s not as easy as I make it look, you know.”
When asked about his future plans, he reiterated his intention to win three gold medals, stating “I’ll be back for another gold in ’88. After all, I can’t go out and work, can I?”
Interviewed a few months later for Bud Greenspan’s classic film, 16 Days of Glory, Thompson took on a more reflective tone as he offered what the Olympics mean to him. “It’s one of those utopian ideals which I don’t believe should be lost on the world. It may not be possible for them to actually occur, there’s nothing wrong with trying to strive for what they set out for. And that is, the youth of the world should get together and have a good time. And maybe when they’re older and they’re in charge of other things and countries and companies and that kind of stuff, that a bit of that will rub off and we will all be nicer to each other. I don’t believe that the ideal is out of place. I always try and strive for the best for myself and so, I’m fully, in this aspect at least, I’m fully very much out of date. We just need a few more like me.”
Before 1984, only one athlete, Bob Mathias, had won two Olympic gold medals in the decathlon, a tremendous feat but one completed in an era before the multi-events attracted dedicated, full-time athletes. With Daley Thompson, now there were two.
A Retroactive World Record
Some were miffed that Thompson didn’t exert more effort in the 1,500 in Los Angeles and provide the millions of fans around the world with a world record performance. Upon further review, it was determined that he had actually done so. Automatic timing, as it was called at the time, lacked the advanced metrics and precision found in the electronic timing systems used today. A review of the electric photo timer used in Los Angeles found that Daley Thompson had run one one-thousandth of a second faster in the hurdles than had been originally recorded. As a result, the gold medalist was awarded one additional point, increasing his winning total to 8,798, equaling Jurgen Hingsen’s world record.
Such a determination, however, was largely moot by that time. The International Amateur Athletics Federation had previously announced that new scoring tables in the multi-events would become effective on January 1, 1985, just a few months after the Los Angeles Olympics. The IAAF simultaneously announced that those new tables would be applied retroactively to previous performances. As a result of that change, which altered the weighting of points awarded in each of the ten events, Daley Thompson’s score at the Olympics was increased to 8,846 and Jurgen Hingsen’s to 8,831. With this restructuring of the scoring tables, Thompson had broken the world record for the fourth time.
Many decathlon enthusiasts were critical of the new tables, largely for technical reasons. Few, however, and perhaps justifiably, were more incensed than Jurgen Hingsen, who had lost the world record on paper rather than on the track. “I think it’s silly, I don’t know what influence was behind this,” the now former world record exclaimed. “I don’t see how you can take away something from three years earlier, use the new scoring system, and take the record away.”
“You Have to Differentiate Yourself”
Despite his tendency to focus his attention on a limited number of teammates and friends, and though he had in some respects shunned many in the press and at times some of his fans, Daley Thompson had developed a reputation for his playfulness and outgoing demeanor. In the aftermath of his decathlon win in Los Angeles, that reputation was bolstered, and many believed he took things too far.
He took his victory lap wearing a light blue shirt emblazoned on the front with, “THANKS AMERICA FOR A GREAT GAMES,” and on the back with, “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE TV COVERAGE?”, a reference to the belief among many from outside the United States that the ABC television network’s Olympic coverage had been biased toward athletes from the United States. (It likely was, as is common in most countries.) Then he was presented to Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, who was serving as the president of the British Olympic Association. They talked briefly and then Thompson was herded to his post-meet press conference. Once there, he unzipped his jacket to reveal another t-shirt, this one with the message, “Is the World’s Second Greatest Athlete Gay?” It was considered by many to be a reference to denied rumors about the sexual orientation of Carl Lewis, one of the greatest athletes in the history of track and field and the winner of four gold medals at the 1984 Olympics.
Then, with the first question at the news conference, Thompson was asked what Princess Anne had said to him in their brief meeting. He quickly quipped, “She said I was a damn good-looking guy.” When he was asked about the t-shirt he was wearing, he suggested that in England, “gay” meant “happy.” When asked who the second greatest athlete in the world was, Thompson said it might be Lewis or it might be Jurgen Hingsen.
He was asked about his future plans and responded, “I am going to settle down for a while, maybe have some kids, and grow up.” Sensing Thompson’s playfulness, and a potential story, a journalist then asked, “What did you say to Princess Anne, and if you’re going to have children, who is going to be the mother?” Thompson responded, “In answer to your second question, you have just mentioned the lady and I hope they (their children) are white.”
Daley Thompson was on a roll, and the hits just kept coming. He was asked if it was unusual for Princess Anne to come to the track; “not when you are as close as we are,” he responded. When asked if Captain Mark Phillips (Princess Anne’s husband and the queen’s son-in-law) was aware of this new romance, Thompson said, “Who’s he?”
After the press conference, Thompson left the press area to prepare for the next morning when he would be running a leg on the British 4 x 100-meter relay. On his way out, though, he completed a quick interview with a San Diego television station. When asked if this had been the best day of his life, he responded, “I haven’t been this happy since my grandmother caught her tit in a mangle.” That comment was edited out of the interview before it was broadcast.
The official British establishment rallied to Thompson’s defense in the wake of considerable backlash from many in the British press and public. The Queen’s press secretary said, “Princess Anne wants to make it quite clear that she finds it absurd that anyone should think anything said by Daley Thompson after his outstandingly brilliant achievement was offensive in any way.” The chairman of the British Athletic Association commented, “His remarks are, to some extent, his way of telling the press to mind their own business.”
Over the years, Thompson seems to have developed little remorse and few regrets regarding his playful actions and statements following his second Olympic victory. As an example, in an interview in 2008, he was asked, “Whose idea was the gay slogan t-shirt?” He responded, “I put my hand up to that one.” When he was asked if he was proud of doing that, he responded, “Yes. You wouldn’t believe the number of people who approach me and say, ‘What was on your t-shirt again?’ You have to differentiate yourself. Show you have personality.”
The reaction of the more circumspect Jurgen Hingsen to his silver medal performance was vastly different from that of the gold medal winner. After completing the 1,500, carrying a large West German flag, Hingsen jogged around the Olympic Stadium with his teammates, bronze-medalist Siegfried Wentz and Guido Kratschmer, who finished fourth in his last Olympic competition. Commenting on finishing behind Thompson, again, he tried to place a happy spin on the competition. “I can’t say it’s (finishing second) a punishment.” But he also acknowledged, jokingly, about his inability to defeat his chief rival. “Some day, I’ll beat him. Of course, I may be eighty by then.”
At the Closing Ceremony, Hingsen was interviewed for American television. When asked how he felt about the Los Angeles Olympics, the West German was particularly upbeat. “I feel really great. It’s been a spectacular moment for me, my first Olympic Games . . . What can I say? It’s been a beautiful moment for me.”
And with that, Jurgen Hingsen’s Olympic career was effectively concluded. Though he would qualify for the 1988 Games, he would famously not complete the first event.
References
ABC Sports, 1984, “ABC Sports Profile – Daley Thompson – 1984 Olympics,” August 8, 1984, downloaded from www.youtube.com
ABC Sports, 1984, “Profile of Jurgen Hingsen,” ABC Sports coverage of the 1984 Olympics, broadcast August 9, 1984, downloaded from www.youtube.com
ABC Sports, 1984, Coverage of Los Angeles Olympics Closing Ceremony – Interview with Jurgen Hingsen,” August l2 1984, downloaded from www.youtube.com
Anderson, Dave, 1984, “Sports of the Times: ‘The Biggest Buzz,’” The New York Times, August 10, 1984
Burgess, Charles, 1984, “Daley Thompson Causes Furor at LA Olympics,” The Guardian, August 11 1984, downloaded from www.theguardian.com
Burns, John F., “Moscow Will Keep Its Team from Los Angeles Olympics . . .,” The New York Times, May 9, 1984
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
Collett, Mike, 1984, “Olympic Decathlon Champion Daley Thompson Issued a Light-Hearted Challenge. . .”, UPI, July 30, 1984, downloaded from www.upi.com
ESPN Magazine, 2012, “The Great Showman’s Royal Display,” July 12, 2012, downloaded from http://en.espn.co.uk/olympic-sports
Hendershott, Jon, 1984, “T&FN Interview – Daley Thompson,” Track and Field News, April 1984
Juliani, Joe, 1984, “Ninety Miles Away from the Olympic Mania. . .”, UPI, August 7, 1984, downloaded from www.upi.com
Levin, Dan, 1984, “Hingsen – ‘I Do the Last One for Daley,” Sports Illustrated, July 18, 1984
Litsky, Frank, 1984, “Thompson Wins His 2nd Olympic Decathlon,” The New York Times, August 10, 1984
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/
Moore, Kenny, 1984, “He’s a Perfect 10,” Sports Illustrated, July 18, 1984
Nelson, Bert, 1984, “Thompson Handles Hingsen Again,” Track and Field News, September 1984
Nelson, Cordner, 1986, Track’s Greatest Champions, Los Altos, California: TAFNews Press, 1986
The New York Times, 1986, “Sports People: ‘Record to Thompson,” May 16, 1986
The New York Times, 1986, “Sports People: ‘Move Upsets Hingsen,” May 17, 1986
Rozin, Skip, 1983, Daley Thompson – The Subject is Winning, London: Stanley Paul, 1983
Rozin, Skip, 1984, “The Making of a Decathlon Champion,” The New York Times, June 3, 1984
16 Days of Glory, 1985, Bud Greenspan, Director, Cappy Productions, Janus Films
Stengel, Richard, 1984, “Olympics: Call This Briton Great,” Time, August 20, 1984
Tagliabue, John, 1984, “Hingsen Pushing Toward Decathlon Duel,” The New York Times, July 9, 1984
Track and Field News, 1984, “Hingsen 8798,” July 1984
Track and Field News, 1984, “Thompson in the Big Ones,” August 1984
Track and Field News, 1984, “The Lighter Side of Daley Thompson,” September 1984
Track and Field News, “World Rankings – Men’s Decathlon,”, downloaded from trackandfieldnews.com
Zarnowski, Frank, 1989, The Decathlon, Champaign, Illinois: Leisure Press
