I recently discovered this site and I thought I would share it with you. It was launched in February 2019 and is curated by G. Pieraccini. I knew her name since she is regularly publishing articles on the site of World Athletics. In her short bio one can read that
Gabby, since her brief athletics career, has been talking about decathlon to anyone who will listen, or anyone who has ears. She loves to tell the stories of decathlon: the highs, the lows, the joy and the tears. Every decathlon has a story.
I found the site while looking up Jordan Gray, the US female decathlon record holder. Gray made the US heptathlon team this year after having placed 7th in the NCAAs and she was selected for the Thorpe Cup, which was held in Germany. (Unfortunately for Gray, she was injured in the very first, 100 m hurdles, event and had to drop out after the third event).
Jordan Gray concludes:
“I think there should be a period of time where they offer both. Or, say, in this many years it’s going to change to the decathlon. That way it’s not blindsiding a bunch of women who don’t pole vault or do the discus. They can decide if they want to continue and do the decathlon. But, again, it’s a different type of athlete. It’s not necessarily better or worse. It’s just a different game”.
After all, the ten disciplines of the decathlon have been contested as individual events by women for more than two decades. It's high time to forget about the less demanding heptathlon and let women tackle the difficulty of the full decathlon.
Gabby, since her brief athletics career, has been talking about decathlon to anyone who will listen, or anyone who has ears. She loves to tell the stories of decathlon: the highs, the lows, the joy and the tears. Every decathlon has a story.
I found the site while looking up Jordan Gray, the US female decathlon record holder. Gray made the US heptathlon team this year after having placed 7th in the NCAAs and she was selected for the Thorpe Cup, which was held in Germany. (Unfortunately for Gray, she was injured in the very first, 100 m hurdles, event and had to drop out after the third event).
Jordan Gray with her Team USA kit
The article on J. Gray is very interesting, and I suggest that you hunt it down and read it. The interview develops into an insightful analysis of women's decathlon and the difficulties it faces. First, as Gray points out, there are a lot of heptathletes who don’t necessarily want to change to decathlon because it’s a completely different type of thing. And, there are a number of challenges facing those women who want to pursue a career in the decathlon. One argument against women's decathlon is that you can’t run two decathlons at the same time. However this is totally spurious, since in major competitions decathlon and heptathlon are held on separate days. And, by the way, the unnatural order with field events swapped between men's and women's decathlon should disappear. Would anybody, in their right mind, dare put high jump as 9th event in a men's decathlon? 
Jordan Gray concludes:
“I think there should be a period of time where they offer both. Or, say, in this many years it’s going to change to the decathlon. That way it’s not blindsiding a bunch of women who don’t pole vault or do the discus. They can decide if they want to continue and do the decathlon. But, again, it’s a different type of athlete. It’s not necessarily better or worse. It’s just a different game”.
After all, the ten disciplines of the decathlon have been contested as individual events by women for more than two decades. It's high time to forget about the less demanding heptathlon and let women tackle the difficulty of the full decathlon.
Thank you for the kind comments about Decathletes of Europe! I will return the compliment.
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