New Clark City—Aries Toledo was crowned the “Greatest Athlete” of the 30th Southeast Asian Games after retaining the men’s decathlon gold.
Toledo, 27, retained his SEAG decathlon crown during the second day of competition at the NCC Athletics Center here.
The Central Luzon State University finished with 7,033 points to rule the event. Vietnam’s Van Sui Bui wound up second with 6,911 while fellow Filipino Janry Ubas finished at third with 6,759.
Toledo ran the 100-meter dash in 11.02 seconds (first) before leaping 7.54 meters (first) in long jump. He then threw the shotput 11.68 meters (second) before leaping 2.08 meters in the high jump (second). He ran the 400 meters in 50.69 seconds (second) after the first day.
In Day 2 Toledo took first place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.03 seconds. He threw the discus to a distance of 37.25 meters (first) and placed fifth in the pole vault with a vault of 3.80 meters. He threw the javelin to a distance of 54.37 meters then finished second in the 1,500 meter run.
The title of “World’s Greatest Athlete” is traditionally given to the person who wins the decathlon in the Olympics. This began when King Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, “You, sir, are the world’s greatest athlete” after Thorpe won the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.
The decathlon is a combined event of 10 track and field events. Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved.
