The History of The Women’s Decathlon

Did you know women aren’t allowed to compete in the Olympic decathlon? Yep you read that right - it’s 2025 and the decathlon, an “all-around” of track and field that combines 10 running, jumping and throwing events, is currently restricted to men at the Olympic level. This elite sport crowns the “World’s Greatest Athlete”, so it begs the question, why aren’t women permitted in the running? Women athletes can compete in the seven-event heptathlon, but the 10-event decathlon has been traditionally reserved only for male athletes. Let’s rewind a bit to see how we got here. 

Gender Disparity at the Olympics

The first modern Olympics was held in 1896 and the first “all-around” track and field event was introduced a few years later in 1904. This multi-event sport was similar to the pentathlon in the ancient Greek Olympics and consisted of ten events (although not the same 10 we now associate with the decathlon). The decathlon as we know it today replaced the “all-around” at the 1912 Games. All of these events were restricted to male athletes.

In 1922, the Women’s World Games were held to compensate for the lack of women’s sports in the Olympics. Here, the first “all-around” in track and field for women consisted of a 5-event pentathlon, which included the 60 m, 300 m, high jump, two-hand javelin, and two-hand shot.

It wasn’t until 1928 that women were allowed to participate in some of the track and field events at the Olympic Games. In their Olympic debut, women had just 5 events open to them (compared to the men’s 22): 100m, 800m, 4x100m relay, high jump, and discus throw. Yet this progress was short-lived. As a summary of the 800m race, newspapers painted a bleak picture of women’s athletics with a Times’ report writing that the “obviously distressed forms lying on the side of the track may not warrant a complete condemnation of the girl athletic championships but it certainly suggests unpleasant possibilities.”

As a result, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ruled that the 800m was too difficult for women, and it was banned from the Olympic Games for 32 years until 1960. To this day, the misconception of women’s capabilities has stymied progress of women’s athletics at all competitive levels around the world. 

Women in Combined Track and Field Events

New Zealant pole vaulter at the 2024 Women’s Decathlon World Championships.

Over the decades, the events within the pentathlon and its duration (1 or 2 days) changed multiple times. In 1964, the two-day women’s pentathlon made its Olympic debut, consisting of the 80m hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump, and the 200m. In 1972, the 100m hurdles replaced the 80m hurdles, and in 1980 the event switched to a single day format with the 800m replacing the 200m.

In 1984, seeking a more difficult and well-rounded test of athletic abilities, the pentathlon was replaced by the 7-event heptathlon. Given that women were not allowed to pole vault at this time due to fallacies about their upper body strength, the prospect of a women’s decathlon was not conceivable.

The women’s Olympic pole vault was eventually added in 2000. With this achievement, many believed a transition from the heptathlon to the decathlon was inevitable for the female competitors. But the road has been rocky.

In 2018, USA Track and Field held the first Women’s Decathlon National Championships, but did not continue their support for the event in future years, leaving the women to organize their own subsequent championships. In 2023, France held an exhibition Women’s Decathlon Championship, making it an official National Championship event the following year. Similarly in 2024, the first ever Women’s Decathlon World Championship debuted - a self-organized effort by women decathletes around the world. These showcases, combined with modern science, prove the ability and the interest for female athletes to compete in the decathlon.

Yet despite this momentum, the governing bodies of track and field remain unconvinced. As of 2025, despite finally having parity with men and women competing in all the same individual track and field events at the Olympics, the combined events remain the key area of inequity. So the question remains - when will we see the first woman crowned “World’s Greatest Athlete” and Olympic decathlon champion? 

Competitors in the 2024 inaugural Women’s Decathlon World Championship in Geneva, Ohio.