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Remember When Decathletes Were Cool?Why the world stopped caring about track and field's most grueling event.

By Robert WeintraubPosted Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008, at 4:16 PM ET

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Another reason for the sport's declining Q rating, according to Frank Zarnowski, is that fans like to see world records get smashed. On account of the size of the field and the event's grueling schedule, breaking the decathlon world record is virtually impossible at the Olympics. With approximately 40 entrants, the two days of decathlon competition are a grueling 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. slog, with the occasional burst of activity. The Olympic champion is the athlete who best manages the endless waiting for his next jump, throw, or run—in other words, the world's greatest athlete needs to have the world's greatest iPod playlist.

Compare that with the conditions under which Roman Šebrle of the Czech Republic set the current world record in 2001. At a meet featuring only a dozen entrants, Šebrle was asked by the meet director how long he needed before he was ready for the next event. Šebrle replied, "90 minutes," and it was granted. Needless to say, the Olympic decathletes won't be competing under such boutique circumstances. (One oft-cited reason for the sport's decline is the spectacularly confusing scoring system. That rationale is completely bogus. For one thing, the point system was just as arcane when the sport was at its zenith. For another, gymnastics just introduced an impossible-to-follow scoring methodology, and that hasn't seemed to hurt Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin's popularity.)

Bryan Clay in particular has another huge problem. His worst event is the 1,500 meters, the decathlon's 10^th and final discipline and the one performance guaranteed to be shown in its entirety by NBC. Viewers who tune in to get a look at this incredible all-around athlete will see him loping through the four laps like a weekend jogger. Mind you, this will still be good enough to bring home the gold, should Clay be leading after nine events. But it will hardly be an inspirational sight, a la Jenner, who ran across the finish line and into the warm embrace of an American flag.

If Clay does break through, it will likely be thanks to the futility of his teammates. One of the keys to Jenner's popularity was the fact that the U.S. team had a poor meet, until Bruce came along with a sterling performance that earned him a career as the star of cheesy commercials. Just as in Montreal, the U.S. track team is so far "getting its ass handed to it," as Zarnowski delicately puts it. If this keeps up, perhaps Clay will get some honors by default—and a larger commercial presence than a single, lightly rotated Visa ad. Sure, that's a backhanded way to gain recognition as the world's greatest athlete, but at this point the decathlon will take anything it can get.