Composite athletic contest that consists of 10 different track-and-field competitions: the 100-, 400-, and 1,500-m runs, the 110-m high hurdles, the discus throws, {{link=shot put">shot put , pole vault , high jump , and long jump .
Introduced as a three-day event at the 1912 Olympic Games, it later became a two-day event. Competitors are scored according to a table established by the International Amateur Athletic Federation. Decathletes are often regarded as the finest all-around athletes in the world.