AZUSA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific’s Bryan Clay put together the most balanced effort of his track & field career and overcame heat and long competitions to win the Silver Medal in the decathlon at 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, today.

Clay, who was a record 23-time NAIA All-American during his 4-year career (1999-2002) at Azusa Pacific, tallied a personal best 8,820 points, the second best score ever by an American, and finished second to Gold Medalist Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic, who scored an Olympic Record 8,893 points in the 10-event decathlon.

Clay opened the 2-day, 39-athlete decathlon competition Monday morning at 9 a.m. by winning the 100 meters (10.44) and long jump (26’ 1 ½”) competition to grab the early lead. However, Kazachstan’s Dmitri Karpov began to put together the finest decathlon of his life and by night’s end had caught Bryan after 5 events. By the end of the first day at 11:15 p.m. and the first 5 events, Clay was in third place, narrowly behind first-day leader Karpov and Sebrle.

As the competition opened again at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Bryan continued to battle Karpov and Sebrle, but it wasn’t until the ninth event, well into the evening of the javelin competition, that Clay surpassed Karpov to assume second place overall with a throw of 228’ 8”. Sebrle, the world record holder and the only person ever to score over 9,000 points in the decathlon, refused to be caught, matching Clay’s efforts in the pole vault and javelin to stay 40-50 points ahead of Clay.

Heading into the final event, the 1500 meters, only 180 points separated the 3 decathletes, who had pulled away from the rest of the field. The medalists were not in doubt, but who exactly would be the Olympic champion was still at issue. Clay held Karpov at bay to retain the silver while Sebrle did the same to Clay to hold on to the gold. In fact, Sreble was ahead of Clay throughout much of the race but dropped back to run side-by-side with Clay over the final 200 meters.

Clay’s score also makes him only the seventh person ever to score over 8,800 points in a decathlon. With the silver in hand, Clay earns the highest individual medal ever among the 11 Cougars who have competed in the Olympic Games. Fellow decathlete Dave Johnson won a bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Twins Davidson and Osmond Ezinwa along with Fatimat Yusuf collected silver medals on relay teams for their native country Nigeria at the Atlanta Games of 1996.

At the same time that Clay was running the decathlon 1500 meters, his former Cougar teammate Stephanie McCann was competing in the women’s pole vault on the infield of the Olympic Stadium. McCann finished tenth with leap of 14’ 5 ¼” for her home country of Canada.

Clay, who will appear on NBC’s “Today Show” on Wednesday (Aug. 25), returns to Southern California on Monday, Aug. 30, and then heads to his childhood home of Honolulu, Hawaii, Thursday, Sept. 2, to be recognized during “Bryan Clay Day” in Hawaii.

Final Decathlon Results

Final Women’s Pole Vault Results