Do women take part in the decathlon?

Answer 1

Although many women compete in decathlons, the sport is dominated by men. Women typically compete in the heptathlon which features seven sports events instead of the ten events of the decathlon.

Answer 2

Yes. This is an advancing situation. Sexism still exists in the history of the sport of Track and Field or Athletics if you are on the other side of the pond. Of course the sport started out just by men. When women were added, some of the further rationale dates to the 1928 Olympics, when the reports were that the competitors in the 800 metres were winded and exhausted. So this led to the thought that women were not as capable as men. Facts have proven this theory to be untrue, women excel in distance events, relative to the disparity between genders in strength and speed events. But what this caused over history is women being offered lesser events than men.

How this relates to the combined events is one of those legacy lesser events. Men did the decathlon in the modern Olympics since 1904 and it had a history in the male only Ancient games. Women first got to do a combined event in 1964 and they were offered the Pentathlon--5 events. It took twenty more years until it was converted into a 7 event, 2 day Heptathlon, which is what women do currently at the official Olympic event. All of these "advancements" toward equality have been slow and have been precipitated by women performing in the various events in lesser competitions to prove they are worthy of being included on the world stage. So women are participating in decathlons now. The women's world record is 8366 by Austra Skujytė of Lithuania. Even more impressive is the Masters women's world record, set by 65 year old Nadine O'Connor. Masters uses an age-grading conversion to score points. Her score is 10,234, almost 1200 points more than Ashton Eaton's men's world record.

Answer 3

Usually men compete in decathlon not women.