Pappas wrestles title away from Sebrle

During some of the first moments after his World Championships win in Paris on Wednesday night, American decathlete Tom Pappas spent more time answering questions about the wrestling ring in the family home, or his father’s automobile land speed record, or the family’s Greek immigrant roots, than he did about all the work he had done in the Stade de France the previous two days.

But when the subject of his freshly-minted World title eventually came up, the normally stolid Pappas broke character with a rare smile and gave some of his thoughts on the gold medal that many thought he was still a few seasons away from winning.

“For a couple of years, I had a rough few seasons with injuries.  Now, I’m healthy for the most part, and had a solid year of training.” 

Last night, Pappas fell only 35 points short of setting his third personal-best accumulation of the year with a winning total of 8750, even though he registered only one individual event best (the 400 metres at the end of the first day). But he stayed close to all of his PBs throughout the two days to amass the second-best total of his career.

Injury proves beneficial 

Ironically, it was the most tender part of his body - the tendinitis-plagued shoulder on his throwing arm - which provided Pappas with a sound effort in the javelin to partially neutralize an even better spear toss by World-record holder Roman Šebrle. This rendered the concluding 1500 metres - the bane of all ten-event athletes - almost meaningless, as the Czech finished second with 8634, although he did try to pull out a victory at the end.   

“I tried to run 4:20 tonight because I thought Tom would run 4:49,” he said, “but I ran the first lap too quickly and did not have the power to continue.”  Šebrle also probably was not expecting Pappas’ PB performance in the event, which dropped almost a second from the time he ran in the Sydney Olympics to seal his fifth-place finish. 

“I knew Roman was going to take it out fast. I just wanted to keep him in my sight and not let him get too far away,” said Pappas of his own race plan. 

Both Pappas and Šebrle had seen 22-year-old Dmitry Karpov of Kazhakstan bolt to the front at the beginning of the first day, which ended with Karpov sitting atop the field with a personal-best total of 4599 after achieving lifetime bests in four of the five events.  

Competing in only his eighth career decathlon, Karpov continued to hold the lead until the eighth event, when he finally yielded to Pappas after the pole vault. The young Kazhak did manage to keep his hold on the bronze medal, ending with a personal-best 8374.

Šebrle’s stomach virus

Šebrle’s disappointment with failing to win his first-ever global crown was tempered somewhat by the knowledge that his condition had suffered in the pre-Paris weeks by a stomach virus which took a week out of his training earlier this month. 

“I wasn’t in the same good shape as in Götzis earlier this season [where he amassed the year’s best score of 8807],” he admitted, expressing the most disappointment with his sprinting and speed events. “But the throwing events were OK,” he added. 

A turning point came in one of them, the javelin, as Šebrle’s final try - an impressive fling of about 74 metres - put so much stress on his ankles that he could not keep his balance and ended up falling over the foul line. Had those seventy-or-so extra points landed in the Czech’s column, the 1500 metres might have been played out much differently. 

10% enhancement

Pappas, who will turn 27 next week, first drew attention four years ago with an early-season decathlon score of 8463. It was not so much the score but the improvement on his previous best of 7677 which was notable. This performance represented more than a 10% enhancement, compared with the less than 7% by which Bob Beamon’s legendary Tokyo performance extended the long jump record.   

At the time, Dan O’Brien was both the World-record holder and defending Olympic champion, and he noted that Pappas had “the right physical make-up: bigger and taller than most, not overly fast but a good technician.” Of course, O’Brien probably also appreciated the fact that he and Pappas had both spent their early years in the same southern Oregon territory. 

Wrestling and land speed

The tenacity which has been one of Tom’s hallmarks is clearly in his genes. “My grandfather Pappas was a professional wrestler, and he encouraged us to try the sport,” in which Tom competed from the fifth through the tenth class, winning several Oregon state honours.

And father Nick Pappas was quite willing to help his sons follow in their grandfather’s footsteps for a very good reason: He himself had become a victim of polio before age two. “Since I couldn’t do sports,” reasoned Nick, “I had to let my sons do it for me.” And a full-sized wrestling ring in the Pappas basement was constructed for his three boys. 

Despite his handicap, Nick has already upstaged Tom by already bringing a World record to the family, in a sport which his childhood affliction would not hinder—auto racing. The elder Pappas and his racing partner eventually were able to claim a land speed record at the Bonneville salt flats with a top velocity of more than 700 kilometres per hour back during the 1990s. 

As Tom started to grow during the tenth class, he became less adept at wrestling and more attracted to football, basketball and high jumping. 

Older brother Paul had been a University of Oregon decathlete, albeit at a modest level. But he was able to spread the “deca-gospel” back to the family home in Azalea, about 120 kilometres south of the university city of Eugene. Younger brother Billy would also follow Paul on the university team. But it was middle brother Tom whose abilities in athletics at the end of high school were still limited to high jumping and not sufficient to attract a stipend.

The Coach

After two years at a two-year college, Tom, then 19 years old, competed in a decathlon in southern California and attracted the attention of Bill Webb, the head coach at the University of Tennessee. Of his first encounter of Pappas in 1996, Webb several years ago recalled that “he was really skinny, but I saw that he hurdled, vaulted, and high jump well.  And those are key events.  So, I invited him to come and join our group in Knoxville.” 

Under his long-time association with Webb, Pappas continued to develop into the World champion that he became last night. 

Pappas’ pair of point totals this year over 8700 has prompted him to think of his next frontier tonight, especially as the Olympic year approaches, beckoning as it does for overachievement. 

“I definitely think the World record is possible. It’s just a matter of staying healthy, having the right conditions for the competition...and having a lot of luck.”