Product Code Database
Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, (born 30 July 1958) is an English former decathlon. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four times. He was unbeaten in competition for nine years.
With four world records, two Olympic gold medals, three Commonwealth titles and wins in the World and European Championships, Thompson is considered by many to be the greatest decathlete of all time, and was described in The Independent as "the world's greatest all-round athlete." His autobiography, Daley: Olympic Superstar, was published in 2024. (2026). 9781916556485, Chiselbury. ISBN 9781916556485
In 1983, Thompson won the inaugural World Championships and became the first decathlete to hold a continental title, in his case the European title and the World and Olympic titles simultaneously. He also became by virtue of his World title, the first athlete in any athletics event to hold Olympic, World, continental and Commonwealth Games titles in a single event simultaneously.
Thompson spent much of the summer of 1984 in California preparing for the defence of his Olympic title, with Jürgen Hingsen, the West German who had succeeded Thompson as the world record holder, expected to be a major threat. Thompson took the lead in the first event, a lead he never relinquished throughout the competition. It seemed that, by easing off in the 1,500 metres, he had missed tying the world record by just one point. When the photo-finish pictures were examined, however, it was found that Thompson should have been credited with one more point in the 110 metres hurdles so he had in fact, equalled Hingsen's record.
When the new scoring tables were introduced, Thompson became the sole record holder once more with a recalculated score of 8,847 points – a world record that stood until 1992, when it was surpassed by the American athlete Dan O'Brien with a score of 8,891. Thompson's two victories in the Olympic decathlon are a feat shared only with the Americans Bob Mathias and Ashton Eaton. Thompson's 1984 performance is still the UK record. In 2002, Thompson's successful defence of his Olympic title was ranked number 34 on Channel 4's poll of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.
| 8,798 points |
| 1,032 points |
| 1,063 points |
| 835 points |
| 906 points |
| 965 points |
| 969 points |
| 821 points |
| 941 points |
| 799 points |
| 810 points |
| 9,141 points |
Thompson was an ambassador for the London 2012 Summer Olympics, focusing during the bid stage on highlighting the benefits that hosting the Olympics would bring to education and sport in schools. He also took part in the 2011 TV series Jamie's Dream School.
In 2015, Thompson opened his own gym, Daley Fitness, located on Upper Richmond Road in London. In 2018, he joined chef Gary Barnshaw and co-founded DT10 Sports, creating and selling a range of low-sugar protein shakes and sports bars.
In April 2025, Thompson entered the Celebrity Big Brother house to appear as a housemate on the twenty-fourth series.
At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Thompson, who had just won his second Olympic decathlon gold medal, wore a T-shirt that read "IS THE WORLD'S 2ND GREATEST ATHLETE GAY?". United States sprinter Carl Lewis had been dealing with rumours of homosexuality and the shirt was regarded by some people as being cruelly directed at Lewis. "The second athlete could be anybody, Carl Lewis, anybody," Thompson stated.
In 2012, Thompson was accused of anti-Irish sentiment after commenting on live BBC TV that the creator of a misspelled tattoo "Irish jokes". The tattoo artist was actually American.
In August 2014, Thompson was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.
In 2015, Thompson co-presented the mid morning show on Talksport once a week alongside Colin Murray until Murray quit the station the following year.
Thompson features in the 2024 documentary Colin Jackson: Resilience, discussing the challenges faced by elite athletes and in particular Jackson's performance in the 1992 Olympic 110m hurdles event.
His autobiography, Daley: Olympic Superstar, was published by Chiselbury in 2024. (2026). 9781916556485, Chiselbury. ISBN 9781916556485 A documentary film about his life, also titled Daley: Olympic Superstar, became available on the BBC in July 2024.
|
|
