 Clay in 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1980-01-03) January 3, 1980 (age 44) Austin, Texas, United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay (Japanese: 石井 積, Ishii Tsumoru, born January 3, 1980) is an American decathlete who was the 2008 Summer Olympic champion for the decathlon and was also World champion in 2005.
Biography
Clay was born in Austin, Texas and raised in Hawaii. He is Afro-Asian. His mother, Michele Ishimoto, was a Japanese immigrant to America. His father, Greg Clay, was African-American. His parents divorced when he was in elementary school and he was raised primarily by his mother. He has a younger brother, Nikolas, who was also a standout athlete on the Azusa Pacific University track team. Clay graduated from James B. Castle High School (Kaneohe, Hawaii) in 1998.
On March 23, 2013, Clay was inducted into the Azusa Pacific Hall of Fame in track and field.
Clay is married to Sarah Smith. They have a son, Jacob (born 2005) and two daughters, Katherine (Kate) (born 2007) and Elizabeth (Ellie) (born 2010).
Clay is a devoted Christian. He believes that a balance of mental, physical and emotional health will help him in athletic competition.
Athletic career
He competed in track and field in high school, during which time he was coached by Dacre Bowen and Martin Hee. He then attended Azusa Pacific University, an Evangelical Christian college near Los Angeles, California, where he competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and was coached by Mike Barnett, who still coaches him. Clay still trains at Azusa Pacific University. Clay decided to compete in the decathlon after persuasion from Olympian Chris Huffins.
Clay won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics, and finished first at the 2005 World Championships. He was unable to complete the 2007 World Championships due to injuries, dropping out after four events in which he claimed the competition's best scores in the 100 metres and the long jump.
Clay won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in the decathlon. His victory margin of 240 points in the 2008 Beijing Olympics was the largest since 1972. The Olympic decathlon champion is referred to as the "World's Greatest Athlete" and prior to the Olympics, Clay was tested by SPARQ to establish his SPARQ Rating across a number of different sports. The test is meant to measure sport-specific athleticism and in the football test Clay recorded a score of 130.40, the highest ever recorded up to that point. By comparison, Reggie Bush scored a 93.38 on the popular test.
He is one of two Olympians featured on a special edition post-Beijing Olympics Wheaties cereal box; the other was gymnast Nastia Liukin.
His attempts to regain his World Championships decathlon title were thwarted by a hamstring injury in June 2009. This caused him to drop out of the US trials; thus, he missed the chance to compete at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. He returned to action in 2010 and won the men's heptathlon at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. At the start of his outdoor season he won the 2010 Hypo-Meeting, holding off the challenge from Romain Barras.
In 2012, Clay had returned to the Olympic Trials in hopes of making a third Olympics and defending his title. Defending the title was a feat only achieved twice, by Bob Mathias and by Daley Thompson. That attempt was quashed at the beginning of the second day, when he tripped over the 9th hurdle in the 110 metres hurdles, then off balance pushed over the tenth hurdle. He was initially disqualified for pushing over the hurdle, but that decision was reversed, allowing him a mark for running 16.81 s, last in the field and over 1.5 s slower than the next best competitor. Thinking he had been disqualified in the hurdles, Clay followed the hurdle accident with three straight fouls in the discus throws, but he still completed the competition.
Achievements
- 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships - gold medal
- Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's decathlon - gold medal
- 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships - gold medal
- 2005 World Championships in Athletics - gold medal
- Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's decathlon - silver medal
- 2004 World Indoor Championships - silver medal
Personal bests
Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
Outdoor
- As of May 21, 2024
| Event | Performance | Location | Date | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decathlon | 8,832 points | Eugene | June 30, 2008 | 8,832 points |
| 100 meters | 10.27 (+0.2 m/s) | Götzis | May 29, 2010 | 1,011 points |
| Long jump | 8.06 m (26 ft 5+1⁄4 in) w | Chula Vista | June 6, 2004 | 1,076 points |
| Shot put | 16.27 m (53 ft 4+1⁄2 in) | Beijing | August 21, 2008 | 868 points |
| High jump | 2.10 m (6 ft 10+1⁄2 in) | Moscow | March 11, 2006 | 896 points |
| 400 meters | 47.78 | Tampa | May 16, 1998 | 920 points |
| 110 meters hurdles | 13.64 (-0.3 m/s) | Los Angeles | May 8, 2010 | 1,022 points |
| Discus throw | 55.87 m (183 ft 3+1⁄2 in) | Carson | June 24, 2005 | 993 points |
| Pole vault | 5.15 m (16 ft 10+3⁄4 in) | Ames | February 15, 2008 | 957 points |
| Javelin throw | 72.00 m (236 ft 2+1⁄2 in) | Helsinki | August 10, 2005 | 920 points |
| 1500 meters | 4:38.93 | Eugene | June 22, 2001 | 687 points |
| Virtual Best Performance | 9,350 points | |||
Indoor
- As of May 21, 2024.
| Event | Performance | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heptathlon | 6,371 points | Valencia | March 9, 2008 |
| 60 meters | 6.65 | Budapest | March 6, 2004 |
| 60 meters hurdles | 7.77 | Albuquerque | February 27, 2010 |
| 200 meters | 21.34 | Azusa | February 17, 2001 |
| 1000 meters | 2:49.41 | Budapest | March 7, 2004 |
Politics
Clay spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2008.
See also
References
- ^ "Bryan CLAY | Profile". www.worldathletics.org.
- ^ Hunt, Nigel; Neil Maidment (2008-08-22). "FACTBOX: Gold medalist Bryan Clay". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- "Bryan Clay Profile & Bio". 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. NBC. August 8, 2008. Archived from the original on 2016-10-19. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
- ^ Bryan Clay (2003). Bryan Clay '03 (Documentary). Azusa Pacific University. Archived from the original on 2008-08-31. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- Sheinin, Dave (2008-08-23). "Decathlon champ from USA world's greatest athlete". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- Abrahamson, Alan (2008-08-23). "Clay achin' but brings home gold". Track & Field. NBC. Archived from the original on 2008-08-24. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
- "Clay wins gold in Olympic decathlon". NBC News. Associated Press. 2008-08-23. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
- Herman, Martyn (2008-08-22). "Classy Clay romps to decathlon gold". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- "SPARQ Magazine: Is Brian Clay the world's greatest athlete?". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
- "Honolulu, Hawaii news, sports & weather - KITV Channel 4". www.kitv.com. Archived from the original on February 23, 2012.
- Injury ends Clay's decathlon bid. BBC Sport (2009-06-25). Retrieved on 2009-06-26.
- Sampaolo, Diego (2010-05-30). Clay and Ennis beat the rain to take Götzis titles – IAAF Combined Events Challenge. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-06-01.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-12-20. Retrieved 2019-12-22.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - Crumpacker, John (July 1, 2008). "Clay impressive in winning decathlon". sfgate.com.
- "Bryan Clay tells convention his priorities are God, family, track | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper". the.honoluluadvertiser.com.
External links
- Bryan Clay at World Athletics
- Bryan Clay at www.USATF.org
- Bryan Clay at Team USA (archive June 5, 2023)
- Bryan Clay at Olympics.com
- Bryan Clay at Olympedia (archive)
- Official website
- Teleconference interview with decathlete world-champion Bryan Clay prior to the 2007 USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the Wayback Machine (archived September 15, 2007)
- Video: APU Life on Film featuring Clay at the Wayback Machine (archived August 31, 2008)
| Olympic champions in the men's all-around, pentathlon and decathlon | |
|---|---|
| All-around | |
| Pentathlon |
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| Decathlon |
|
| World champions in men's decathlon | |
|---|---|
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| World Indoor Champions in men's heptathlon | |
|---|---|
|
| US National Championship winners in men's decathlon | |
|---|---|
| 1915–1979 Amateur Athletic Union |
|
| 1980–1992 The Athletics Congress |
|
| 1993-onwards USA Track & Field |
|
| Notes |
|
- 1980 births
- Living people
- American male decathletes
- African-American Christians
- African-American track and field athletes
- Hawaii Republicans
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Azusa Pacific University alumni
- Sportspeople from Austin, Texas
- Sportspeople from Honolulu
- American sportspeople of Japanese descent
- World Athletics Championships medalists
- Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Track and field athletes from Hawaii
- World Athletics Indoor Championships winners
- World Athletics Championships winners
- 21st-century American sportsmen
- 21st-century African-American sportsmen