As a rule, a human being is quite a lazy creature who would rather take on something less demanding than toiling away days on end. For example, in sports that lazy creature would rather choose a ball game than the combined events. What is more, it is much more profitable to be a nobody in any football or basketball team than to be a decathlete.
Combined events may be a demanding event, but the more demanding it is, the more appreciation do the world top athletes get.
An excellent example comes from the year 1996 when Germany was choosing its sportsman of the year. That year had been exceptionally successful for German sports. Michael Schumacher was crowned the world champion in Formula One, Boris Becker won the Grand Slam in tennis, Germany received the title of the European Champion in football and so on. Everything said, it was Frank Busemann, the silver medallist from Atlanta, who was presented with the award of Sportsman of the Year. The Germans know how to value the combined events.
PS. Olexiy Kasyanov (born 26 August 1985) is a Ukrainian decathlete. His personal best decathlon score is 8479 points, achieved at the 2009 World Chamionships in Berlin. His personal best heptathlon score is 6254 points, achieved 2010 in Zaporozhye.
He won silver medal in Torino, European Indoor Championships with 6205 points.
I hope this year we will hear from Olexiy Kasyanov many times!
PPS. I think Ashton Eaton is the world's greatest young decathlete. Why? In a decathlon competition, Eaton has run the 100m in 10,35 seconds, the 400m in 46,85, the hurdles in 13,85 and the 1500m in 4.20,75. He scores more points in the runs than Bryan Clay, Daley Thompson and Dan O'Brien did.
Eaton is the same size as Roman Sebrle, the world record-holder with 9026 points, but Eaton is faster than Sebrle and he is only 22 year old.
He has seven 8000-point performances. Nobody in history has done that before at his age.
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